


The Start of a New Life

by Daily



Series: A bond of family [28]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adoption, Anger, Character Bashing, Dealing with the Dursleys, Horcruxes, Talking, Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-15
Updated: 2014-03-21
Packaged: 2018-01-15 20:46:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 35,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1318645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daily/pseuds/Daily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Returning from their vacation and it’s unexpected ending Harry ,Sirius and Remus have to deal with the aftermaths and finally begin their new lives. Direct Sequel to House Hunting. Warning: Bashing of Dumbledore, Dursley's, Molly Weasley and some Hermione Granger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters. If I had Sirius, Remus, Fred and Dobby would never have died and there would have been a lot more bromance.
> 
> Warnings: Mentioning of abuse and torture. Strong Bromance. Hugging and hand holding...can’t handle grown men hug or hold hands then I suggest you do not read this.
> 
> Mentioned torture and a LOT of talking. Powerful Sirius.
> 
> Warnings for language and bashing of Dursleys, Dumbledore, Molly Weasley and occasionally Hermione.  
> No pairing other than strong friendship.  
> This is NOT meant as a slash story between Harry and Sirius or Remus, only a strong family bond. But if you wish to see a slash couple then be my guest.
> 
> Special thanks to Kitty for Beta-ing this story and pre-reading it.

Entering into the small living room of Lupin Cottage in his pyjamas after having taken a lovely shower the last thing Harry had ever expected to walk into was the sight of his godfather knitting.

And yet, that was exactly what Sirius was doing. Freshly clad into his pyjamas and still damp hair from his own shower, his godfather was curled up on the couch, his feet tucked mostly underneath his body while his hands flashed with a pair of needles.

Harry had to take a second look, letting the towel he had been drying his hair with drop to his shoulders as he moved to the couch.

"You're...knitting?" stating the obvious seemed the most logical solution to his surprise.

"Why are you so surprised?" confused Sirius looked up at Harry without stopping what he was doing.

"You are a pureblood male, I mean...Mrs. Weasley knits but she is a woman. I thought only females did that stuff?"

Harry picked up his towel from his shoulders again when his pyjama jacket began to get damp and moved to the fireplace to hang it over the small rack Remus had placed there for that purpose.

Sirius snorted, "Isn't that a bit of a prejudice? And for the pureblood comment, when have I ever done anything remotely purebloodedly? And shush that is so a word." He added as Harry tried to suppress a chuckle.

"Fair point. But why are you knitting?"

"I'm making scarves for you, Remus and Dobby."

"Why?"

"Because I know the Hogwarts one isn't exactly made of the warmest materials and you should keep that one for school purposes. Remus' scarf has more holes in it than actual fabric and I did say I wanted to give Dobby something to thank him."

"All right, fair enough. Hermione knits with magic though, isn't that much quicker?"

"Knitting with magic, now that is something a pureblood would do. It is so impersonal to just have a pair of needles do the work for you."

Harry chuckled, "Can't argue with that either. How did you learn to knit in the first place?" he asked as he sat down beside Sirius on the couch. "Are you feeling better after your shower now?"

Sirius shrugged, "Just incredibly sore, no shower helps with that kind of soreness. The after effects from those hexes and curses will probably linger for a few more days and cause me some discomfort. So since I promised to take it easy I figured I'd start on my intention to make you guys scarves." He stretched carefully, his nightshirt hitching up a bit and revealing a thin line of dark blue bruising on a pale skin. Bruises that Harry just knew stretched out over his godfather´s entire torso but Sirius didn't show any discomfort outside a tiny hitch in his movements. The tip of his fluffy socks touched Harry´s leg for a short moment as Sirius´ body protested against his movement but the slight contact comforted Harry from his lingering worry while Sirius curled up like an oversized cat again. Somehow not having disturbed the ball of wool lying in his lap.

"Your grandmother taught me how to knit after I ran away from home. I didn't have anything but the bloody rags on my body and I didn't want to have their generosity wasted on me aside the necessary stuff. Mostly I wore your dad's old clothing as he was only slightly taller than me, but I refused to let them buy me anything new. So your grandmother compromised by deciding to show me how to make my own. She had more than enough wool lying around that she hardly ever used so I wouldn't feel guilty for using it."

"Why didn't you want to accept anything?" Harry asked as he had moved to sit sidewards to be able to talk to his godfather more properly.

"I spend my whole childhood feeling like a burden and being told the same thing. I didn't want them to ever see me like that. Not to mention that I still had a little bit of shattered pride I tried to hold onto despite how they saw me arrive."

"How did you arrive, you mentioned bloody clothes so I doubt it was anything good."

"Torn clothes, broken and bruised bones, bare blistered and torn feet. To be short, a very bloody mess. I had torn the skin from the soles of my feet so badly I was basically walking on the bone. Took them days to fix the damage and I could even try to walk again. I couldn't even go to the bathroom without help because I couldn't stand on my feet."

"If your parents weren't already dead I'd like to rip them apart." Harry growled in anger at the hideous people that had dared to call themselves Sirius´ parents. Even the Dursleys had never been that bad. They mistreated him and occasionally beat him if they thought he had misbehaved too badly but they had never drawn actual blood, only bruises. And though they certainly hadn't missed a chance to tell him he was a worthless brat and denied him food, they had never actively tried to kill him. But from what he had learned about the Blacks, they certainly had tried to kill his godfather.

Sirius smiled slightly as he placed his work in his lap and tugged gently on Harry´s pyjama sleeve to pull him close enough for a hug, seemingly guessing at least part of his inner thoughts. Harry willingly let himself be pulled closer, shifting as he did so he wouldn't apply any additional pressure on his godfather´s sore body. He hugged him close for a long moment before leaning back again and tugging carefully on the hem of Sirius´ right pant leg.

"You shouldn't put pressure on it like that." He softly berated him as Sirius shifted his weight so that Harry could pull his leg out from under his body. Carefully pulling the oversized sock down a bit he looked at the dark patches of colour forming a disfigured pattern on his godfather's ankle.

"The pressure helps," Sirius apologised, his leg twitching when Harry carefully touched the clearest visible bruise.

"Remus said to keep it elevated."

"Keeping it elevated makes the rest of my body protest. This position seemed like an appropriate compromise."

Harry fondly shook his head, letting the foot rest against his leg again and placing his hand over it lightly so that Sirius couldn't pull it back under his body.

Sirius gave him a long unreadable look before sighing in defeat and shifting slightly so he became more comfortable in the new position before continuing his knitting again, accepting Harry's unvoiced request. Harry smiled and watched him work in silence for a few minutes before something occurred to him.

"Who helped you to the bathroom?"

"Your dad. Your grandparents tried not to because they knew I was already embarrassed enough as it was." Sirius didn't seem fazed by his continuance of their previous conversation at all and simply answered him.

"And you didn't feel that way with dad?" Harry had to ask curiously.

"Not really. I've had to help him loads of times when Quidditch banged him up and he's seen me naked often enough while treating my injuries after every vacation. We've helped each other shower, cut food and even helped each other eat on more than one occasion when we were incapable of doing so ourselves." Sirius chuckled, "I can't even remember the amount of times we had to help Remus for the same things after the full moon. It wasn't something we even thought about."

Harry nodded slowly, though he couldn't imagine ever doing the same thing for Ron or he for him and he admitted as much, making Sirius laugh.

"Your situation is slightly different honey. You are the only one who periodically gets hurt and then you have too much pride to let anyone help you."

"That's not entirely true, I let you help me if I hurt myself," Harry defended himself. He wondered for a brief moment if he should object to the honey comment since he was not a little child. But the unconscious endearments Sirius occasionally used made him feel warm inside so he let it slide.

"That's different, I'm me. We are family. You usually try to be brave and strong before Remus too, though I have to admit you have been getting better around him." Harry blushed as he realised Sirius was telling the truth and felt another warm tingle in his stomach at being called family at the same time. No matter how many times he heard it, it never made him feel less happy.

"Okay, I won't deny that since its true. So...you, dad and Remus weren't that proud?"

"Oh we were. At least I was. It took me three years to admit I was being abused after all. When they found out I was in so much pain and so incredibly sick that I was hardly coherent enough to object to their actions when they manhandled me out of my robes to try and help me. And we'd been taking care of Remus ever since we found out about Moony despite his objections at the time. And your dad had no choice, the first few times he got hurt I simply strapped him down to be able to have a look at his injuries until he simply let me help him. None of us really wanted to go to Madam Pomfrey unless we really had to, so we had to swallow our prides."

"I can totally see you tying dad up so you could treat his Quidditch or duelling injuries," he chuckled, making Sirius snort.

"Yeah it was funny," Sirius said as he smiled again and turned back to his work after a few moments.

"Did you ever make something for someone other than yourself?" Harry asked, wanting to keep learning more.

"Loads of times. Mostly for you, Remus and James though."

"Did mum knit?"

"Never, it frustrated her more than anything when she kept dropping stitches. Your dad was pretty good at it though."

"Dad knitted too?" Harry asked surprised.

"Yeah, he learned alongside me. The first few days I wasn't able to walk so I was confined to the house and knitting kept me occupied. Your dad always kept me company when not flying so we struggled together. He was better at making socks though, didn't have the patience for sweaters or scarves. Your grandfather could knit too actually. He occasionally joined us if he had the time and set us on track again if we got mixed up."

"So basically outside mum my whole family knew how to knit?" Harry asked and Sirius nodded.

"Basically? Yes."

"Could you teach me, too?"

"Of course, it's a handy skill to know at any time," Sirius agreed.

"Thanks. Did dad make you socks if he was good at them?" Harry asked with a smile as he looked at Sirius' fluffy socks. They looked too new to have been made by his father but maybe Sirius had made them himself.

"All the time. And for Remus too. He would never accept any charity from us so we began making clothes much too big for ourselves and dump them on him every so often. He must have known we did it on purpose but he always accepted the clothes after some arguing. It replaced his own worn clothes as his parents spend most of their money trying to find a cure for him."

"Do you think he still has some? I would love to see the work."

"What work?" Remus asked as he entered the living room, carrying a plate with three mugs of tea and a bundled up tea towel while dressed in his own night clothes.

"James and my knitted clothes. Do you still have any?" Sirius asked as Remus handed Harry a mug and placed one on the small side table for Sirius before taking his own and placing it on the other table.

"Thanks."

"I think I have some locked away. I outgrew most of them by now. Actually I think they'd fit you fairly well if you'd like them." Remus answered as he knelt down before the couch and removed a bottle from his pyjama pocket.

"You think so?" Harry asked with a bit of hesitation while moving his hand to rest on Sirius' leg to keep it still as he tried to twitch away from Remus' touch. His godfather hissed but Harry tried his hardest to ignore the pained gasp as he did his best to focus on the conversation with Remus. He didn't want to take anything that Remus obviously treasured. And he had to or he would have thrown them out once he had outgrown them. "They are your clothes."

"I don't fit them anymore and it is a bit of a waste to have them locked in a trunk. But I couldn't bring myself to give them away after your dad passed away. He would have wanted you to have them once you fit into them. Besides, I think you will like most of the stuff your dad and Sirius made."

"Stuff?"

"I have some of your old toys in the same truck. Most were made by Sirius and your grandmother and I couldn't bear to look at them for a long time, but couldn't throw those away either when I found them while helping to clean the rubbish from Godric's Hollow. You especially loved the little knitted dog Sirius made you, called him Pa'foo."

"A knitted dog?" Harry asked with glee as he glanced at his godfather's pale face. Sirius didn't seem to be listening to their conversation as his eyes were closed and he bit his lip to prevent himself from crying out in pain while Remus carefully rubbed some kind of potion onto the bruised limb.

"Yes. He made you a stag, wolf and a deer to represent your mother, too. They always had to come to bed with you." Remus told him with a smile, though it didn't reach his eyes and Harry realised he was trying to keep a conversation going to distract them both from what he was doing and to try and give Sirius something to focus on.

"It would be nice to see it all." Harry admitted after swallowing a lump from his throat and Remus nodded approvingly.

"I'll search for them the next few days then. I placed them in one of the trunks at the attic somewhere."

Remus closed the lid over the bottle and placed it aside before placing the tea towel over the ankle. Another hiss was released before Sirius let out a sigh and Harry felt the tension release slowly from where his hand was placed.

"Why couldn't Dobby heal it when he healed my cuts without a problem?" Harry worriedly asked as he softly rubbed Sirius' upper arm to try and comfort him.

"Because it was caused by dark magic..." Sirius answered hoarsely before clearing his throat.

"And injuries caused by dark magic aren't healed that easily." Harry finished for him as he remembered what he had been taught about the subject.

"It will be fine in a few days. I'll wrap it up tomorrow so it won't hurt him as much and we'll have to try and keep him off his feet as much as possible." Remus reassured him before handing Sirius a different bottle.

"Couldn't you have given me that first?" Mock glaring at his friend Sirius downed the pain relieving potion before grimacing at the taste, making Harry chuckle.

"Does the ice help?" Remus asked as he repositioned the ankle on the couch before standing up and sitting down in the chair on the other side of the side table.

"Yeah, thanks." Sirius nodded as he took a few deep breaths before ruffling Harry's hair to show him he was all right again and picking up his knitting work again.

"Scarf?" Remus asked.

"Yeah."

"For whom?" Remus asked as he looked at the colourful lap of wool with slight suspicion.

"Don't worry, this one is for Dobby. I want to say sorry for making him check all those houses while we won't even go to them anymore and as a New Years present. I'm making you and Harry one too."

"Good, I could use a new one," Remus agreed as he took a sip from his drink.

"I noticed. Any specific colour you'd like?"

"Blue would be nice," Remus gave the scarf a closer look. "Are you using a pattern there?"

"Yes, the Potter crest. I figured since Dobby loves Harry so much he'll like to have the family crest on his."

"That's my family crest?" Harry asked as he leaned closer to examine it. But it didn't mean much to him so he refocused his attention to the conversation. "You can knit patterns?"

"Your dad was better at this one. He took a lot of joy into knitting the Potter crest into every pair of fluffy socks he made for me."

"On Hogsmeade weekends he would hunt down the softest wool he could find so he could make comfortable socks for Siri's feet."

"While they were still healing?" Harry looked at his godfather's socks again unconsciously, making the other two chuckle.

"They have always remained slightly sensitive after I damaged them so badly and it took a long time for them to truly heal in the first place. So your dad would indeed search for the softest kinds of wool everywhere he went to make me fluffy socks," Sirius chuckled, "I remember when he stole your shoes and gave you new ones with the excuse that his own shoes were too tight for me to wear with the bandages and woollen socks."

"I don't believe for a second that you let him without complaining about it." Harry grinned at Remus who smiled back at him.

"Oh I complained all right. Told him to give Sirius the new shoes but he insisted that he wouldn't be able to wear them without the new fabric hurting his feet. And since my feet were bigger it only made sense to simply give me new shoes and my old ones to Sirius."

"It wasn't truly the reason why he got new shoes though. He had seen Remus' shoes were worn down so we had to make a plan to get him new ones without him refusing them or arguing endlessly. My feet were just an excuse, though they did hurt less than my own shoes did."

"I knew your plan, but they felt so good that I simply agreed to the reasoning after arguing a little bit for show," Remus admitted, making Sirius and Harry laugh.

"Do you know how to knit, too?" Harry asked as Sirius placed his work down again to pick his mug up and take a sip from it.

"A little. My mother taught me during the long days spend inside after I was bitten but I never truly got the hang of it. I can make scarves but not much else. Anything else and I'd get large patches full of holes that either James or Sirius had to try and fix for me again."

"But you knew they could knit?"

"Oh yes, everyone did. They were never secretive about it either. Spend many an evening knitting right in the crowded common room with Sirius' cat chasing the ball of wool whenever it fell from his lap."

"You mentioned that cat before. Where and when did you get it?" Harry asked curious, always enjoying hearing more stories from the two.

"Your dad bought her for me Christmas of third year. My parents had killed the owl Uncle Alphard had given me when I got my letter the summer before, so I couldn't secretly correspond with James and he felt horrible about it. Tried to buy me a new one but I refused, knowing they'd simply kill it again. So for Christmas he gave me the most adorable female kitten."

"What was she like?"

"Playful but loved to cuddle. She was completely grey with black stripes over her back and head and white paw socks."

"What was her name?"

"Wizzy."

"Wizzy?" Harry looked at his godfather in disbelief. "Really...you named your cat Wizzy?"

"What? It's a good name."

"It is a ridiculous name and you know it," Remus shot at him.

"Why Wizzy?"

"Because we were wizards and she was a wizard's cat? Your dad thought of the name actually. I never claimed him to be very imaginative in choosing names."

"But didn't your parents kill her, too, when you had to return to Grimmauld Place for vacations?"

"Never gave them the chance, she stayed with the Potters during the vacations we spend away from Hogwarts to keep her safe," Sirius explained.

"Mum chose my name didn't she?" Harry suddenly asked after a few moments of silence as he looked at Sirius doubtfully. If his dad named a cat Wizzy he couldn't have thought of his own son's name.

"It was a bit of a combined effort," Sirius shrugged.

"Right. If I recall correctly neither of them came up with the actual name he's got now until you suggested it." Remus revealed.

"You choose my name?" Harry turned his head more so he could look at Sirius a bit better. Having been at his birth was already amazing, but now learning his godfather has had a hand in choosing his name was awesome.

"Not really. They both wanted to name you something special. Your dad adored his grandfather, whose name was Harold. And your mum's beloved grandmother was called Mary. So I asked them why they didn't combine the names of the grandparents they loved so much, which resulted in your name."

"I was named after two grandparents?"

"Great-grandparents in your case, since they were the grandparents of your own parents," Remus correct him gently.

"Sweet. I never knew what my grandparent's names were, let alone my great-grandparents."

Sirius looked at Harry. "Your dad's parents were named Dorea and Charlus. Your grandmother's parents were named Cygnus and Violetta and from your grandfather's side Harold and Medina."

"From your mum's side your grandparents were named Victor and Anna. And of your great-grandparents I only know your grandmother's side, Mary and Frank."

Harry stared at him surprised, "How do you know all those names?"

"Cygnus and Violetta were my great-grandparents, too. Aunt Dorea had three siblings. One of those was my grandfather. And your mothers I know because she told me."

"And you remembered after all this time?"

"It seems so," Sirius shrugged as he counted his stitches for a moment while Harry grinned at learning something new again.

"Speaking of family. When did you guys want to return to Grimmauld Place to pick up the items we wish to take home with us?" Sirius asked as he looked up to them again.

"The sooner the better. I assume most Order members will be there once the news of Voldemort's demise comes out and I rather be happily back here then," Remus sighed.

"Shall we go first thing tomorrow morning then?" Harry suggested.

"Make that second. I wish to pay a small visit somewhere else first," Sirius admitted as he finished counting his stitches.

"Where do you want to go?" Curiously Harry looked at his godfather as he continued knitting again.

"The Dursleys. The adoption papers arrived while you were in the shower and I wish to make sure they drop all their fake rights to you and can't make trouble under Dumbledore's orders."

"You think they'll make trouble?" Harry looked worried at his godfather.

"Not if they value their health," Remus growled.

"Exactly. So I suggest you go off to bed soon so we can make a bright start tomorrow morning. I was thinking of arriving at their doorstep around eight in the morning."

"Eight in the morning on a vacation day? Do you wish to rub them in the wrong way from the start?" Harry exclaimed.

Sirius smirked. "No, I simply wish to get it over with as soon as possible. I plan to sign these tomorrow once I've send an owl to McGonagall to confirm she can make it and I wish to eliminate every possible obstacle before that time. I assume you would like to have your friends present?"

"I...I don't know. I'd like the twins to be there and Ron. I know he's acted like a jealous prick in the past, but he is my best friend. And possible Ginny too. It was fun to have her at my birthday party too," Harry admitted as he thought for a few moments.

"And Hermione?" Remus asked softly.

"I don't know. She's been acting really nasty to Sirius most of the time. She's my best friend, but I have no desire to go out of my way to involve her if she is not already there."

"Understandable. What about Luna and Neville? You get along with them well don't you?" Sirius asked, recalling Harry's letters about the DA lessons. Making Harry smile. He had mentioned both repeatedly in the letters they had passed through another one of the Marauder's inventions.

Sirius had given Harry a small box that was a twin of the one Sirius owned. They placed letters into it and then closed it, making the letter appear in the other box. It had been a secure way of communicating as Sirius had been very careful about information being intercepted.

"Luna's pretty weird but very nice. I don't know her very well yet though. Neville's the same. I don't really know either of them well enough to wish them to be present, even though I would like to become true friends with them. I just want you guys to be there." Harry admitted.

"We'll be there. I because I wish to adopt you and Remus because he will act as one of the two witnesses. I have to ask you though; do you have any preference for an adult to sign the papers?"

Harry thought for a long moment before he answered. "The only other adult I can think of would be Professor McGonagall. I like Mr. Weasley but I wouldn't want him as my witness. You can't be a witness since you will be signing them and Remus is already your witness."

Sirius chuckled. "You could always ask him first. I haven't actually asked him yet."

"No. He should be yours. Marauders should stick together. He is your closest friend. I would like to ask McGonagall. You saw her as a potential guardian so it would be kind of fitting if she were there to see you take full custody over me. And she is one of the few adults I trust to treat both of us fairly," Harry decided before Remus could interrupt.

"All right. Do you wish to ask her yourself?" Sirius asked.

"Urm..." Suddenly Harry wasn't as sure of himself anymore.

"Or do you want me to invite her and pass the request along at the same time?" Sirius continued with a smile as he placed his work down and accepted a piece of paper and a pen from Remus, who pulled both items out of somewhere.

"The second if you don't mind. Why are you writing with pen and paper by the way? I thought all wizards used parchment and quills?"

"Parchment is expensive and so is ink. Besides, I think this works better and faster," Remus explained while Sirius scribbled a note on his paper and folded it before sealing it.

He whistled and a few moments later a small light brown owl flew in and landed on his shoulder.

"Care to pass on a message Boo?" Sirius asked as he held the piece of paper up and Boo lovingly bit his finger before holding out a claw so Sirius could fasten the message to it.

"Wait for a reply, please." Sirius carefully shifted to prepare to stand up, but Harry swiftly stood up and held out his arm for the small owl while using his other to gently push Sirius back into the couch.

"I'll bring him to the window. I don't want you to move unless you are going to bed." He ordered as Boo flew onto his arm and he let him out of the window, closing it before he moved back to his spot.

"I didn't know either of you owned an owl."

"We didn't. He's a little foundling Sirius picked up while on the run. After he healed we tried to release him, but he refused to leave so Sirius kind of adopted him as his owl."

"His famous animal attraction again?" Harry asked snickering.

"I think in this case it is more that Boo sees Sirius as his mummy, since he couldn't have been more than a few weeks old when he found him. He didn't eat on his own yet, so Sirius hand-fed him and taught him how fly." Suddenly Remus began to laugh. "You should have seen that. It was quite the sight to behold. Sirius would stand on a chair and hop down from it while flapping his arms around and Boo just looked at him like he was mental. "

"But he is flying now, so I guess it worked in the end?"

"After a lot of patience and various attempts he got the message. He's an adorable little fellow." Sirius fondly smiled at the memory.

"Why Boo though?"

"This idiot here thought it hilarious to call out 'boo' every time the poor thing made any indication of hooting. After a few times he started to react to the name and it stuck."

"It's a cute name for a cute owl," Sirius defended his action with a laugh.

"It is a cute owl; I have to agree to that." Remus smiled as he stood up to collect their cups after letting out a large yawn. "We should go to bed if you wish to be up before the sun tomorrow."

"I only need to finish these two needles and then I'm done."

"Do you want me to wait for you?" Harry asked as he tried to suppress a yawn, making Sirius smile.

"No, you should go to bed. I'll be up soon, too," Sirius assured him, giving him a yawn in return.

Harry hesitated for a moment. "Are you still going to stay with me?"

"Would you like me to?"

"Yeah." It was easier than expected to admit wanting to have Sirius close. Not only because he slept better when his godfather was there with him, but also because he liked being able to bring comfort to Sirius when he had a nightmare. And he had more of those in one week than Harry had in months.

Sirius nodded. "Then I will tiptoe in within an hour," he promised.

Harry nodded, though he wasn't about to leave Sirius alone after all that had happened today. He knew Sirius was hurting, even though he barely showed it and now that he had finally sat down, he might not be able to get up on his own anymore.

He turned to wish Remus a good night while trying to think of an excuse to linger. But Remus surprised him by initiating a hug and pulling him close while whispering in his ear.

"Don't worry, I'll wait for him to finish and then go upstairs with him."

"Are you sure?" Harry whispered back, relieved when Remus nodded before releasing him again.

He glanced at Sirius who rolled his eyes good naturedly, and Harry smiled at him sheepishly. But Sirius didn't object when Remus took a seat beside him on the couch and carefully moved his leg onto his lap so it was a bit more elevated.

"All right, good night you both," Harry told them.

"So he gets a hug but I don't? That is completely unfair," Sirius complained with a pout, making Harry laugh.

"Of course you get a hug, too." Harry moved to his godfather and leaned forward to give him a warm hug. Sirius wrapped his arms around him and held him close for a long moment before placing a kiss in his hair and letting go of him again.

"Good night, love you and sweet dreams." Sirius said with a tired smile as he picked up his knitting work once more.

"Love you too and good night." Harry replied with a happy smile as he leaned forward once more to give his godfather a kiss on his cheek before waving at Remus.

"Night." Remus and he said at the same time, both smiling before Harry gave a little wave and left the room.

He brushed his teeth before slipping between the sheets and laying down, intending to wait for Sirius to join him.

But he couldn't keep his eyes open and quickly dropped to sleep; only waking in what seemed like moments later by the bedroom door opening and a stumble.

"Whazzit?" he asked sleepily as he turned to see a blurry form move into the room.

"Shh, go back to sleep. I'm just bringing Sirius to bed." Remus' voice answered him in a whisper.

Immediately Harry became more alert and he reached for his glasses to see his godfather's sleeping form in Remus' arms. Alarmed he sat up immediately.

"He fell asleep shortly after you left. I mixed a bit of muscle relaxation into his tea to help him relax. Hadn't expected him to fall asleep so easily and once he did I didn't have the heart to wake him up again only to have to help him upstairs anyway." Remus explained whispering.

Harry pulled back the blankets while shifting to the right so Remus could sit down and could slip Sirius' unresponsive form onto the bed and then Harry helped him cover his godfather, smiling when Sirius shifted to his left side almost immediately and snuggled into the blankets. Harry tucked the blankets around his frame, making sure to keep them loose.

"Are you going to stay here too?" he turned to Remus.

"It might be wise after today. He is bound to have some nightmares tonight, if not both of you have them," Remus softly said as he glanced at his best friend's sleeping form.

Harry bit his lip. He didn't like admitting weakness but he knew there was a high possibility for exactly that situation. He knew that if Sirius had nightmares after today they would be violent and leave him very disorientated. Having Remus right there would make it much easier to help Sirius remember where he was and that he was safe than when Harry tried it on his own.

He didn't worry much about himself for he knew his nightmares had been mostly none-existent since the Horcrux had been removed from him. And with that his connection to Voldemort. But he had heard the person he loved most of all being tortured while being unable to help him. So the chance that he would have nightmares about that himself was high.

He sighed. "You are right. I think you are going to have to crawl in with us though."

"Why?" confused Remus looked at him.

"Because Siri has taken your shirt hostage," Harry said while trying to suppress a chuckle, not wanting to wake his godfather.

Remus glanced down to see that Sirius indeed had a firm grip on his nightshirt. He bit back a snort before shrugging, kicking his slippers off and manoeuvring himself into the bed without disturbing Sirius.

"You are surprisingly good at that," Harry commented as he took off his glasses again and laid back down again, tugging the blankets up a bit.

"Not the first time he has hijacked a shirt. Your dad was a true master of this art. He could even change bed sides without ever losing contact or waking him up and that is when Sirius sleeps as light as a feather."

"And you can't?"

"Oh no. I can get him to bed without a problem, especially if he's bone tired and drugged like this. But if I try to move away from him once he's taken a hold he will still wake up. Even if it is just to move to the other side of the bed."

"So you are stuck here." Harry couldn't help but be amused as Remus maturely stuck out his tongue at him as he made himself comfortable while Sirius curled up beside him.

"Good night Remus," Harry spoke after a few moments and closed his eyes again, drifting off to sleep almost immediately again and only heard Remus' reply from a far distance.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dealing with the Dursleys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Contains Dursley and Dumbledore bashing.

A small pop was the only sound indicating the arrival of three men as they appeared out of nowhere early in the morning at Privet Drive.

"If we use disguises again, do you think we can take the Knight bus to Grimmauld Place once we are done here?" Sirius asked hoarsely as he slowly straightened, having stumbled when they arrived. All the colour had drained from his face and Harry could see a small tremor in his hand.

"I'm all for it," Harry agreed readily. He still didn't really like Side-Along Apparition, no matter how fast it was and he suspected that if Remus hadn't had a firm grip on his godfather's arm, the man would have fallen over.

"We would have to step up a few streets from here so they won't make the connection between the Dursley home and us. Even if you can make that distance, do you really want to travel an hour in a bumping, jumping vomit machine?" Remus asked logically as they slowly moved forward.

Sirius faltered for a step as he paled even further before shaking his head slightly.

"One second thought..." he trailed off.

Harry chuckled "Vomit machine?"

"Ah yes. Your mum always got sick when travelling with the Knight bus," Remus revealed.

"Poor mum."

Sirius snorted. "Anyone who's ever travelled with it hates it. But sometimes there is no other choice as not everyone can Apparate or has a Floo connection they can use or travel to. Or they have young children who they need to travel with and they can't use brooms."

He paused for a moment before grinning at Harry. "Though there are plenty of people who dislike Apparition even more than the Knight bus."

Harry stuck out his tongue to him and he laughed before he carefully took a step forward again before deciding he was all right and began to walk towards number four at an unhurried pace.

Harry and Remus adjusted their own pace so they could walk at his side and Harry kept a close eye on his godfather to ensure he was doing all right.

When they had woken up that morning, Sirius hadn't even been able to get out of bed without help because his entire body protested. It had taken an extra long hot shower and a couple more pain relieving potions before he had been able to move around gingerly.

Harry had asked why he only seemed to be getting worse as time passed by but Remus had explained that because Sirius had kept going after the fight his body had run on adrenaline. It was when he sat down and relaxed that his body's fatigue caught up with him. It had been the same for his ankle. His low boots had actually been what had supported his ankle and had kept him from feeling it properly. Haven taken those off and the ankle had swollen and protested almost immediately.

Glancing from Sirius to the front door they were heading to Harry felt dread fill him. Not because he was afraid the two would change their minds and ditch him here though. He was afraid of how the Dursleys would treat them, especially now that Sirius was not at his best.

The Dursleys might fear him because they believed he was a mass murderer but would that hold up if his uncle saw he was injured?

"It will be fine, Harry. Don't worry," Remus assured him with a mischievous smile that made Harry look at him in wonder. But before he could ask anything, Sirius rang the doorbell and his heart clenched when Uncle Vernon opened the door after a minute or so.

For a long moment he stared at Harry without speaking before opening his mouth to undoubtedly say something rude. But Sirius shifted at that moment and Uncle Vernon's blue eyes widened as he paled.

"Y-you..," he stuttered as he didn't seem capable of forming a complete sentence.

"If you don't want a scene I suggest you let us in immediately," Remus pleasantly told him, making Vernon's eyes shift to him. If possible he paled even more as his eyes flashed between the two.

Harry frowned. Why was Uncle Vernon more afraid of Remus than of Sirius? And how did he recognise both of them so easily when he had never met Remus and only seen Sirius on the news two years earlier. A Sirius who was barely recognisable from the corpse-like man that had escaped from Azkaban back then. He had gained weight and his hair was short and clean. He no longer had a beard or wore tattered robes. He looked like a Muggle more than anything else in his jeans, collar, short coat and low boots. So how had Uncle Vernon immediately recognised him?

"I...you..," Vernon's mouth opened and closed a few times but nothing more than a strangled sound came out before Sirius cleared his throat, making Vernon whimper as he jumped out of the way as if burned.

"So you remember us, that makes things so much easier." Remus seemed pleased while Sirius raised a single eyebrow at Vernon, obviously unimpressed.

Harry had to bite his lip to keep from laughing though he kept silent, knowing he could always ask later just how they had all met before. But it didn't stop him from being curious though. Sirius' hand on his shoulder had him move inside and gave his godfather a little support at the same time as he moved with him, Remus closing the door behind them.

"Living room, couch," Sirius ordered and Vernon almost fell over his own fat legs as he hurried to do as Sirius said, pulling Petunia with him as she walked into the hallway to see what was taking Vernon so long. She gave one big shriek upon seeing them both before Vernon quieted her and pulled her along.

"Wh.," Harry began to ask, wanting to understand what was going on as even Petunia seemed to recognise them.

"Later," Remus whispered as they followed Sirius into the living room and they sat down on the couch while the Dursleys huddled in the corner of the room.

"W-what do you want?" Vernon was turning purple despite his paleness as he tried his best to be as polite as possible while attempting to sound intimidating at the same time.

"Don't ever bother. We wouldn't want you to wet your pants again," Remus said harshly, making Harry raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"I..Why are you here," Vernon finally managed to get out. "I let the boy go immediately when he asked to go to that thing of his kind last year."

He was focusing on Sirius, seemingly too afraid to even look at Remus.

"I want you to sign these papers saying you accept my guardianship of Harry."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I will charge you as an accomplice for the kidnapping of the heir of a Noble and Most Ancient House. I am sure the police will be more than willing to ruin your reputation and arrest you. After all, they wouldn't want to rub their main supplier of funds the wrong way." Sirius spoke calmly as his gaze held Vernon steadily.

"That old man dumped him on the doorstep with only a note. You can't accuse me of kidnapping your...your heir?" Vernon finished almost questioning him as his eyes shot up.

"You took him in without questioning anything, Petunia would have known how to contact our kind but neither of you ever did, meaning you assisted willingly enough in the kidnapping. The old meddler will face his own fate for unrighteously keeping my godson from me. You are in a whole different kind of trouble."

"I never wanted him! I took him in out of love for my wife. I fed him, clothed him..." Vernon spluttered. Harry was amazed that he hadn't started yelling yet, but something about Sirius and Remus seemed to scare him more than Hagrid had a little over four years ago.

"In your son's old rags. You fed him leftovers and locked him up, yes, I know all about that. Do you really wish me to add child abuse to your growing charge?" Sirius voice was sharp as steel as he spoke. Never raising his voice, but Harry still felt a shiver run down his spine at the tone despite it not being directed at him.

"You can't prove that," Vernon hoarsely protested.

"Who said I need proof?"

Vernon swallowed. "It is illegal to..."

"I don't need the law to make your life a living hell, Dursley. Pressing charges is playing things the nice way because Harry here asked me not to hurt you. If I had my way I would tear your skin apart from your flesh bit by bit before unleashing every bit of painful magic I can think off onto your mutilated form. And I know quite a bit about torture and painful magic," Sirius snapped at him, still calm as he levelled him with a glare so intense that Harry was surprised he didn't put Uncle Vernon on fire simply by looking at him. He shifted slightly at the words, serving as a reminder that Sirius would indeed know a lot about both since they were both used against him as a child. He clenched his fingers but kept silent.

"You aren't a murderer," Petunia suddenly whispered, speaking up for the first time. "It was in the paper earlier this week, clearing you of all charges. Why should we believe your threats?"

Vernon whimpered at her words, shrinking slightly backwards.

"Yesterday I killed the man who murdered my best friend and your sister fourteen years ago. Squashed him like a bug before dropping his mangled remains off at the Ministry. I am in the process of ripping apart the man who unrighteously took my godson from me. And right now, I am sitting across the people who have made my godson's childhood a living hell." Sirius' gaze shifted from Petunia to Vernon before looking at Petunia again. His voice still icy cold and calm.

"I don't make threats, stupid cow. I make promises. You will sign those papers or I promise you all you have ever loved, all you have ever given a bloody heck about will be destroyed. Your son will be removed from your house the moment I press child abuse charges and you will never see him again. And I will take an immense delight to ensure I am the one who decides on a new guardian for him, one who will treat him on equal foot as to how you have treated Harry."

Petunia whimpered as her hands flew to her mouth in shock while her eyes widened.

"As a main stockholder of Grunnings where I know you work, I can demand you to be fired long before your trial ever comes before court. Where you will be convicted because I will have the evidence of your crimes. That is the beauty of wizards, we have ways of revealing the truth with you unable to even try and hide the truth. Every single thing you have ever done wrong would come spilling from your own mouth. And you know the most beautiful thing?" Sirius asked at last as he leaned forward, making Vernon and Petunia shrink back even more and swallow in fear.

"No? Once you are both released from Muggle prison in about twenty or so years I will press charges at our court, too. Harry is the hero of the Wizarding world and very loved. I'm not sure you will actually even make it to Azkaban where the Dementors dwell, although I might have to insist the mobs leave enough pieces of you alive to spend the rest of your life in their company."

Sirius paused for a moment before he smirked.

"I am sure your son will be able to tell you what a pleasant life that will be as he's felt their presence once already, and won't that be lovely? As Muggles you cannot see them coming so it will always be a surprise when they decide to touch you with their icy hands or just hover outside your cell door, making all your worst memories resurface and letting you relive them over and over again." He paused again to let his words sink in.

"And maybe, just maybe, I will even let your son come visit you both a few times. Actually...in fact, I think I will even insist upon it. But since I am not very fond of Dementors myself I shall ensure one of them will accompany him to your cell blocks and remain with him to ensure his safety from your broken mad minds. Maybe even let him take a detour on the way back so he can taste for himself what your life has become."

It took all of Harry's will power to keep his eyes focused on the terrified Dursleys and not turn his head to Sirius in amazement. His godfather was threatening them openly and thoroughly with all the things they feared without ever raising his voice or psychically hurting them. They were shivering in fear now by mere words, spoken quietly like steel.

And what words it were, even he himself felt goose bumps on his arms as he felt almost sorry for them.

Almost.

But at the same time Sirius' words about Azkaban left him wanting to throw up, knowing his godfather had spent twelve years with those vile creatures. And as a maximum security prisoner he had been guarded by two of them outside his cell every hour of every day till he finally managed to escape.

A small movement from Remus caught Harry's attention.

"You shouldn't be so cruel Sirius," Remus kindly berated them, making Harry blink and Sirius to turn his face to him.

"Cruel?" Sirius crooked his head to one side as he looked at his friend in seeming confusion.

"Yes, it would be kinder to just rip them apart and be done with it. Even if you do it slowly and one strip of skin at a time, it will still be more merciful than what you have planned for them."

Harry had to suppress a snicker at their tactics. It became clear to him that they had discussed this scenario before, but both were splendid actors and if Harry hadn't known them as well as he did he would never have realised it was a set-up.

Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment. "You might be right. Can I start with the son though? I want to see if he is as much of a pig on the inside as he looks to be on those pictures," Sirius shifted and made to move up. "Maybe we can visit him at Smeltings...that is where your cousin goes, isn't it, pup?"

"No! I'll sign those bloody papers. I got the message. There is no need to stand up or visit anyone. Where are those papers? I'll sign them and have Petunia sign them, too. Is there anything else you want?" Vernon rambled in panic as he rushed from his corner to grab the papers Remus placed on the table.

Sirius turned to Vernon. "If you are sure. I have no problem visiting your son, it would be a delight."

"She needs to sign, too," Remus commented calmly as Vernon hurriedly placed his signature where it needed to be while Sirius slowly sank back down onto the couch. His face was tightly closed off, but Harry couldn't tell if it was because he was losing his temper or because the threat to stand up had hurt him more than he was willing to admit, so he was trying to hide the pain.

"Of course...Petunia...dear," Vernon pleaded with his wife as she made no move to come forward.

"I don't care about the papers but you wouldn't hurt a child. Your kind doesn't interact with normal people. So why should I believe you own stocking in..ahhhh!" She screamed when all the shelves with her precious items exploded as Sirius' eyes flashed.

"Normal people?" He hissed and Vernon whimpered as he pulled on Petunia's arm.

"Shush Petunia. S-she didn't mean it like that. She meant non...m-magical people. She wasn't trying to insult you." Vernon stuttered as he pushed the pen into her trembling hands and forced her to sign.

"Tell me, vermin. Do you take me as a fool?" Sirius asked.

"N-no of course not."

"An idiot or a simple soul then perhaps?"

"No...never."

"So then, what makes you think I wouldn't know the difference between a mistake and an insult?" Sirius asked.

"You would...I just...I."

"I gave you a warning once Dursley. I have no intention of warning you twice."

Sirius finally rose and even though they were the exact same height Sirius towered over Vernon's shivering form as Vernon shrunk into himself in fear.

Petunia had lost all resistance as she tried to hide behind her husband.

Sirius raised his wand and with a slight sweep Vernon tumbled forward, losing his balance and landing on the floor before Sirius' feet.

"I am done playing nicely," Sirius stated.

"Are you going to kill us?" Petunia whispered hoarsely, clearly realising she had misjudged him.

"Killing you would be too kind." With another sweep of his wand Sirius summoned a picture of Dudley from the ground and tapped it with his wand as it hovered in front of him. The moment he did, Dudley's voice rang out through the room.

"W-what are you d-doing? St-stop it...I c-can't see! I've g-gone blind!...I...I...I'll tell Dad." Dudley whimpered. "W-where are you? What are you...cut it out! Stop doing it! You're hurting me...Nooo mummy! P-please stop...get away from me!"

The fear in Dudley's voice was unmistakable and for a moment Harry tensed, he knew those words that Dudley had uttered. He couldn't immediately recall where but he knew Sirius was using something to make the Dursleys believe their son was being hurt.

Not even for a moment did he believe Sirius would ever hurt a child, not even one as horrible as Dudley, but it was clear Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia did.

"What did you do! Dudley! Pumpkin!" Petunia shrieked as she scrambled forward to yank the hovering photograph out of the air, not even flinching at touching magic to stare frantically at the frame.

Harry caught a glance of Dudley's terrified face before he immediately recognised the scenario.

Dementors.

That was exactly how Dudley had looked when those two Dementors had showed up a few months ago a few blocks from here. He had been so frightened and had uttered part of the words while running directly towards those creatures, ignoring all of Harry's warnings.

Harry marvelled at Sirius' genius. He was using part of a memory Harry had shown him and modified it to fit his desire to frighten the Dursleys. He was making them believe Dudley was being hurt without ever actually hurting their son or even seeing him. Because the Dursleys hated magic so much they knew nothing about it, had no idea it wasn't really happening.

"I'll do anything you want, just stop hurting him, please!" Petunia begged as her eyes filled with tears and she sank to the ground. Vernon began to rise but another sweep from Sirius' wand knocked him into the opposite wall and he gasped as the air was knocked out of him, but Sirius ignored him.

"Why should I? Have you ever shown any kindness to Harry? Accepted him or not hurt him in some way with your actions? Why should I show mercy to your son when you had none for mine." Sirius snapped at her, his voice rising slightly for the first time as his grey eyes burned into her and held her gaze. Petunia's eyes widened but she didn't seem capable of breaking the contact as she began to tremble.

Sirius' eyes almost seemed to glow in his anger and he knelt before her before he spoke again, his voice barely above a whisper, but cutting through the room as if he was screaming while he stared into her eyes.

"Despite all your faults, despite all your horrible jealous behaviour your sister loved you. And yes, I know all about your jealousy. You caused Lily so much grief, so much pain and yet she still loved you so dearly. I know you were afraid to be left behind but Lily tried to include you as much as she could into her world. She wrote you letters every week but you returned them unopened. You broke her heart with your refusal to accept her for being different while you were not. If something had happened to the both of you, she would have taken your son in and raised him as her own. She would have loved him despite the fact that you never showed her any kindness. She would have loved him even though he wasn't magical and would have raised him like she would have raised Harry."

Sirius rose again as Petunia whimpered, tears shimmering in her eyes. "She always hoped that if the worst thing happened and Harry would be left with you, you would take him in and love him like your own as she would have loved your son. That you would treat him fairly and would love him because he was your nephew."

Harry swallowed as a lump filled in his throat. Sirius' words cutting through him, his tone speaking of the love he had felt for Harry's mother. Reminding him that it wasn't just his father that Sirius had loved so much. That his mum hadn't just been the wife of his best friend and someone he happened to like, but that she had been someone he had cared for deeply.

His mother had been someone he'd known well, one he had loved as a sister and the fire and emotion burning in Sirius' eyes showed him that he missed her just as much as he missed Harry's father.

Silent tears began to fall from Petunia's eyes as Sirius stared at her. "For the first time in my life, I am happy she is not here anymore so she doesn't have to see what kind of monster her sister has turned out to be. You called her an unnatural freak but the truth is...you are the only one who's a freak here. You and your oaf of a husband are the freaks. The jealous lonely little girl grew up to be a bitter and disgusting woman. A true witch as the ones in your fairy tales, nothing like the beautiful kind young woman your sister grew up to be despite how you treated her."

Sirius gave out a short harsh laugh. "And you know what? Despite your sick mind, despite your husband's sick and twisted mind, Harry still somehow managed to grow into the brilliant, kind and clever young man I am privileged to know. Truly his mother's son and someone to be proud of."

He paused and Harry felt his heart swell at the love and devotion he saw in Sirius' entire being. His godfather radiated the things he felt for him and it left his cheeks burning in happiness despite the tears in his eyes for his mother.

Sirius shook his head sadly. "I feel sorry for your son. He won't be as lucky and will have to live with what you've done to him for the rest of his life. There is no escape for him as he doesn't have enough brains of his own to run while he still can. He has been raised to be a monster like his parents are, a freak who will treat other people unfairly and end up miserable and alone. Shunned by everyone because no one will want to be near him. Taking him away from the two of you truly would be an act of kindness and leave some hope for his future."

Turning away from her crying form he moved back to the couch, Remus rising as he did and picking up the signed papers to tuck them away into his coat. Harry followed his example and leaned in as Sirius wrapped an arm around his waist before turning back to the Dursleys.

Vernon was staring at them in shock and tensed at what Sirius would do now while Petunia's lip simply trembled while she continued crying silently.

"Out of respect for Lily, I won't hurt you despite the fact that you deserve the worst. If I ever catch a hint of either of you talking badly about her or James ever again, I will return and make you pay." He directed at Petunia who slowly nodded despite her tears.

He looked at them both to make sure they understood before focusing on Vernon. "If you ever try to contact Harry, harm him or try to cause him any difficulties ever again I will kill you. I will respect his wish not to harm you, but the moment I hear anything, and I will know, that wish will be ignored and you are mine. Is that understood?" His voice was hard, and Vernon swallowed as he nodded.

"D...Dudley?" Petunia whimpered as she clutched the picture to her chest.

"Unlike you, I don't hurt children. What you heard were part of the events of last summer when your nephew saved your son's life. He could have let him die. He could have walked away and let his magic protect only himself but he didn't. He showed himself to be the person neither of you will ever be. And you would do well to never forget that without him...Dudley wouldn't be alive anymore."

With those words Sirius moved his hand from Harry's waist to place it on his shoulder and direct him out of the door, ignoring the two shivering messes on the ground as Remus closed the door behind them and they left the house calmly.

Once outside Harry took Sirius' hand in his and squeezed it without speaking before his godfather pulled him into his side once more in a one armed hug.

"Let's grab some breakfast before we continue shall we?" Remus asked softly as he placed a hand on Sirius' shoulder.

They both nodded, neither speaking as they held each other for a long moment before Sirius let go of him again.

"Might be a good idea," he agreed as he turned to Remus.

"Anywhere specific you had in mind?"

"Somewhere quiet so we can gather our wits again before dealing with Grimmauld Place," Remus said.

"There is a small restaurant a few blocks from here. The owners were always nice to me and I occasionally went there last summer if I wanted to escape the Dursleys," Harry suggested.

Remus looked at Sirius who nodded.

"Want to walk there?" Remus asked with a hint of a smile, receiving a slap on his shoulder in return.

"Don't be mean, Moony," Sirius glared at him in fake annoyance, the twinkle in his eyes betraying his amusement. Harry chuckled, glad to see the tension broken and his godfather brighten up again.

"How did Uncle Vernon know you anyway? You mentioned him wetting his pants?" Harry asked curiously as he looked at the two.

"Oh, when your mother moved from her childhood house in with your dad we helped her move her things. Those two were there too and he said something that I disliked. I'm not sure what I said exactly anymore but it left enough of an impression," Sirius said with a shrug.

Remus laughed. "I had just gotten these wounds on my face from a rough full moon and your uncle insulted me with freak...which rubbed Sirius in the wrong way and he told him that if he called me freak ever again he would rip him apart. After which your uncle indeed wet his pants."

"He was that scared of a few words?" Harry asked amazed.

"Spoken by a protective and annoyed Sirius. Your godfather could make quite the impression if he wanted to. Stared your uncle down with one glare and I don't need to tell you how frightening he can be when he wishes to be."

"I believe that," Harry smiled before he turned to Sirius again. "Do you really own stock at Grunnings though?"

"Yes, since last summer actually, after we reached that agreement with Dumbledore. I knew I needed a lever to be able to threaten the man if it came to it so I tracked where he worked and bought eighty percent of the shares to become a major stockholder. He will discover coming Monday that he has lost his job. I promised you I wouldn't hurt him, but he will pay in some way for his actions."

Harry nodded approvingly. "And the police department?"

"Nah, but they don't know that," Sirius said with a wink, making Harry chuckle.

"You are wicked Siri...completely and utterly wicked."

"I try."

Harry smiled before he glanced back at Number Four. He let out a smile, knowing he would never have to return there and turned back to Sirius and Remus, feeling lighter than ever. He grabbed both of their arms and locked his arms around them.

"Let's go."

Both glanced at him amused before Remus did as asked and they disappeared from the street again with a small faint pop as their only witness in the quiet morning once more.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Bellatrix Lestrange and other Azkaban escapees aren’t mentioned as captured in this story because if you remember correctly, they escaped in January ´96, this story takes place in December ´95 so they are still in Azkaban.
> 
> Contains Dumbledore, Molly and Hermione bashing.

After a relaxing breakfast they Apparated to Grimmauld Place and Sirius opened the door, only to be greeted by a shrieking voice.

"Where have you been! Dumbledore has been trying to reach you for hours!" Molly Weasley shrieked as they entered the house.

"Harry!" Several voices called out as Ron, Fred, George, Ginny and Hermione appeared in the doorway, too.

"None of your bloody business," Sirius snapped at her as he guided a waving Harry inside, Remus closing the door behind them.

"None of my business? None...you stormed into Hogwarts, kidnapped Harry and left without a single notice of where you were taking him. Then the news came out this morning that You Know Who is dead and the three of you were involved and Dumbledore was unable to locate you anywhere!" She continued to shriek, waking the painting of Sirius' mother up, who immediately added to the screeching.

"Oh great," Sirius sighed as he rubbed his temples with a pained expression as the curtains before the painting of his mother flew open and she threw all kinds of insults at him.

"Shut up you old hag!" Harry yelled suddenly as he pushed roughly past Molly to advance on the painting. "I said shut up you disgraceful abnormal ugly serpent. If you don't stop insulting Sirius I will tear your painting down even if it is the last thing I will ever do!" he snapped at her in anger. Walburga Black took one look at him as she faltered for a split second before she continued to scream obscenities at Sirius, ignoring Harry completely.

"It was worth a try," Harry sighed with a shrug at Sirius' amused expression and raised eyebrow.

"Don't speak that kind of language young man! Did those two teach you that? I will make sure they won't ..." Molly angrily turned to Harry only to be cut off by a wand being shoved into her face.

"One more word to my godson and I swear I will make sure you don't ever speak again," Sirius said. He didn't raise his voice but Harry knew by now that he didn't need to do so to get his point across and Molly indeed swallowed as her eyes widened at his cold glare.

"For once in your life do us all a huge favour and shut your annoying trap and piss off. I am sore, tired, haven't slept well and I don't need you to add your inhuman volume to develop a headache on top of that all," Sirius continued as he pushed her away from Harry before turning to his mother's painting.

"And you...if you don't shut up right this instant I will rip down this entire bloody house to the ground and burn it if it gets you to shut up. I will take your beloved Black items and burn them before your painting, tear your ancestors' precious gems apart and stick the pieces on your face. I will dig up your grave and throw your worthless bones before Muggle grave robbers. Making them believe they are made of gold so you will spend the rest of eternity surrounded by filthy Muggles touching your bones all the time."

Walburga's painting was silenced immediately at his harsh tone as she seemed to see something in his eyes that made her hold her tongue for now. Everyone let out a sigh of relief at the sudden silence.

"You can't break the house down, it is the safest location there is!" Hermione shrieked.

"I can tear the wall down, bringing her down with it," Sirius snapped at her.

"Won´t breaking the wall away make the house wards unstable?" Harry asked curiously.

"He could always ask Dobby to hold the house together with Elf magic," Remus replied teasingly.

"I don't think Elf mag...oh..OH!" Sirius suddenly exclaimed as his eyes widened and he twirled on the spot towards Remus. "You are brilliant! Absolutely and utterly brilliant, Moony!" He said before he grabbed a hold of Remus' arms and to everyone's shock kissed his forehead with a loud smack before beaming at him.

"Absolutely brilliant."

"Okay...that's new, I am brilliant? Care to share exactly why I am brilliant?" Remus asked, rubbing a hand over his forehead absentmindedly while looking just a tiny bit dazzled. But not remotely as shocked as everyone else besides Harry seemed to be.

"Elf magic!" Sirius exclaimed, seemingly unaware of the reaction he had caused with his action as he swirled back to the wall to examine it. His mother's painted eyes followed his movement but she did not start screaming again, to Harry´s relief.

"What about Elf magic?" Remus asked, not following his thought pattern.

"Elves are different from us in their magic aren't they? They can use magic at places where we can't. Apparate at Hogwarts and heal superficial wounds with a snap of their fingers. They can clean entire rooms without ever being seen."

"Yes I know that, but I don't see how that warranted being called brilliant," Remus replied sceptically.

"Wizards can't undo a Permanent Sticking Charm, right?"

"Unfortunately not or we would have taken down that stupid hag months ago," Remus said with a sigh as he leaned against the opposite wall.

"You think Elf magic can remove a permanently stuck item?" Harry asked as he began to understand what Sirius was aiming at.

"It is worth a try, isn't it?"

"I'm all for it," Harry readily agreed and Remus stood straight again.

"Me too, please try it."

Sirius grinned at their enthusiasm. "To you the honour Harry."

Harry answered his grin with one of his own before he called out; "Dobby!"

Immediately a loud crack announced the arrival of their House Elf.

"Harry sir called?"

"Hey Dobby. We have a question for you...are you capable of undoing a Permanent Sticking Charm?" He asked, crossing his fingers, seeing Remus do the same from the corner of his eye.

"Dobby never tried before but Dobby can try now. What does Master Harry sir want removed?"

"That vile thing there," Harry said with a nod of his head towards the painting.

Dobby turned and looked at the painting, studying it for a moment before he snapped his fingers while everyone held their breaths.

For the longest moment nothing happened, but then a loud ripping sound tore through the room and with a loud bang the painting came loose from the wall and began to slide to the ground.

Everyone's eyes widened as they stared at the painting as it almost seemed to fall in slow motion till it landed on the ground with a heavy drum. Dobby smiled in satisfaction and, knowing his job was done, he popped out again without anyone noticing.

Nobody dared to move as Sirius' mother started shrieking and screaming louder than ever before as her painting hit the ground and she seemed to realise what had happened. She began to scream at Sirius louder than ever before, yelling out hexes and curses that Harry had never heard of before.

With bill rising in his mouth he suddenly realised it must have been things she had used on his godfather when she was still alive as he saw Sirius flinch and tense unconsciously through his own shock of finally succeeding in taking her down.

All of a sudden the man looked so incredibly small and vulnerable as his wide eyes stared at the fallen painting in shock that Harry was suddenly forcefully reminded of just how young his godfather actually was. He had always known of course that Sirius was only in his thirties but somehow it had never truly gotten through to him what it meant.

Sirius had been in Azkaban for twelve years, he couldn't have been much older than twenty when he was thrown in there. Meaning that his whole life he'd been terrorized and hurt. His entire childhood he'd been mentally and psychically abused by his own family, and when he finally escaped that hellhole he had gotten involved in a none-ending war which had hurt him even more till he was finally thrown into another hellhole.

An anger and hatred like nothing Harry had ever felt before suddenly came rushing over him. Every bit of knowledge of what he knew had ever happened to his godfather came crashing down on him. The knowledge of Voldemort's torture, of what the people who were supposed to love their child had done to him, the pain and sadness he must have felt...and Harry's thoughts were overcome by the image of Sirius' scar-littered body. Scars his parents had given him, that his mother had given him. How dare she! How did she dare to try and break down the most brilliant and kind person Harry had ever met. How dare she give Sirius reason to flinch even long after her death, he who was so protective of the people he cared for. He who had grown powerful after being beaten down because he wouldn't let Harry get hurt no matter what. He who Harry loved more than anyone else in this world. How dare she!

Suddenly a roaring billowing sound rose and a huge beast made out of fire rushed forward, distracting Harry from his own angry conjured flame and a familiar blue shield appeared around him out of nowhere. Protecting him from the immense heat that emerged from the unnatural flame. It was fire unlike anything Harry had ever seen before as it rushed to the painting and engulfed it, leaving a burning trail of fire behind.

"Are you insane!" Molly and Hermione shrieked from behind their own blue shield as they shielded their eyes from the fire. But Harry felt no worry for them as he knew Sirius' shield would keep them safe. He looked in awe and satisfaction as black smoke vaporized from the painting as Walburga's dying screams were overtaken by the roar of the flames as they grew even larger, burning the hall around them. The great beast, a four legged thing, tossed the painting into the air before swallowing it in its flames, overtaking any enchantments and protections there might have been left on the painting, and it burned.

Realising the fire wasn't slowing down and indeed taking down the Elf heads and rising he turned to Sirius to try and stop him.

"Si..." he began but trailed off in shock as it was not Sirius who was casting the spell.

Through the flames he could see Remus had moved forward with his wand raised as his eyes burned with a fire Harry had never before seen in the man. For a split second Harry was reminded of the werewolf and could see the anger and wild desire to hurt, to destroy in the burning green eyes as his dark counterpart tore into the painting. The beast finally identified as a gigantic wolf instead of the dog Harry had originally thought it to be.

But immediately after that split second he could see Remus in those same eyes. Not his Remus but the Marauder that his father and Sirius must have known when they were young. Their Moony.

The Remus who had been fiercely protective of his friends and didn't let Sirius handle everything. A boy who had seen first-hand the results of the pain and torture one of his dearest friends had gone through his entire childhood at the hands of the woman he was burning so thoroughly right now.

In his burning eyes Harry could see the memories of a broken unloved boy, torn apart by his own parents for not holding the same values and beliefs that they did. Memories of cleaning out wounds so deep it was a miracle that the boy was still breathing. He could see a friend who had been forced to stand by helplessly as someone he cared for deeply was being hurt over and over again, and there had been nothing he could do to stop it. Only able to help him dress his wounds once he was in their care again and try to help ease his endless nightmares every night.

A friend who could do nothing to protect the one who never failed to fight for and protect him.

Harry could see all that and more in the brightly burning eyes, the sorrow and the rage, the uncontrollable desire to burn this monster for what she'd done to someone he loved.

He held his breath when Sirius suddenly appeared, creating a path with his wand through the flames. He seemed unbothered by the heat as he reached Remus and placed a hand on his outstretched one, his fingers curling around Remus' and tightening. The angry eyes staring at the long destroyed painting as Sirius said something Harry was unable to hear over the roaring of the flames.

But Remus heard him as he blinked and his eyes focused on Sirius, the rage disappearing from them and the tenseness following slowly as Sirius stepped forward to wrap his arms around his neck in a hug. As he did the flames flared before Remus leaned into the hug, his hands grabbing the fabric of Sirius' shirt desperately and pulled him close, circling his arms around his waist and holding him tightly.

The flames slowly died out till nothing but a completely scorched hall was left behind and Harry released his breath slowly.

Taking a deep shaky breath as the Marauders remained in a tight embrace he had to swallow back his own tears as he heard the almost silent sobs coming from Remus as the man tightened his hold even more. His face was hidden by Sirius' arms around his neck as he had buried his face into his shoulder. Sirius was standing on his toes to be able to hold him like that but he didn't seem bothered by it as he held onto his crying friend tightly. It took Harry a long moment to realise that Sirius was speaking softly to Remus, too quiet for anyone else to hear, as he held him and a warm smile spread over Harry's lips when Remus slowly nodded into Sirius' shoulder, reacting to his gentle words.

Suddenly realising the silence Harry glanced around, seeing everyone standing back quietly, giving the two men this moment. Hermione and Mrs. Weasley looked annoyed but had enough sense to stay quiet right now.

The twins were smiling softly, their eyes sparkling as they were holding hands together tightly while looking at their heroes. They caught Harry's gaze and gave him a small nod, making Harry´ smile widen to a complete one in return.

Ron and Ginny were looking around while shifting restlessly but they too had enough sense to stay silent and not speak up.

After a few minutes in which no one moved Sirius finally pulled back, keeping his hands on Remus' shoulders as he kept his eyes on him and though Harry couldn't see his expression he was able to see Remus'. The man's eyes were shining with tears as they remained focused on Sirius' face, seemingly unaware of anyone else in the hall.

Sirius said something once more that Harry was sure no one else could catch but Remus gave a small nod and in response Sirius crooked his head slightly to the side, very much like Padfoot always did and Remus gave a small watery smile in return. A few tears escaped over his already wet cheeks that he quickly brushed away with his sleeve while tightening his fingers on Sirius' sleeve as the other shifted to release him completely. Pulling him back into a tight hug once more before Sirius grunted in pain and Remus let go of him quickly with a small chuckled "sorry".

As Sirius turned Harry caught sight of his own brightly shining eyes and had to resist the urge to move forward and try and comfort the two. Right now Remus and Sirius needed to be close together and be able to touch freely to draw comfort from each other. What became clear to Harry when Remus kept a tight hold on Sirius' sleeve before the other slipped a hand in his instead.

No matter how close they were to Harry, this was something between them, something they had lived through together and his close presence would only make them try and be strong again.

Unfortunately Molly didn't share his opinion as she saw fit to break the silence. "Have you two completely lost your minds! How dare you use something that dangerous inside this house, especially with all the children here!"

She glared at them, making Remus tighten his hold on Sirius while Ron looked around at the destroyed hallway once more. "What was that?"

"Fiendfyre. Extremely dangerous and dark magic. It burns everything in its path and is really difficult to control. It cannot be extinguished by water or magic. We could have all died here," Hermione snapped at him as she folded her arms. "I can't believe Remus would endanger us all like that."

"Pff, we were protected. Those flames couldn't penetrate the shields Sirius cast around us, which is one wicked display of reflexes I must say," approvingly Fred looked at the two.

"How do you know Sirius was the one who cast the magic?" Hermione asked snippily.

"Because it was his magical signature in the shields?" George answered instead, sounding disbelieving that she hadn't realised that.

"It was extremely dangerous and I can't believe you would endanger us all like that. You are unfit to be around children!" Molly yelled at Remus, who still looked pale and upset and tightened his other hand on Sirius' arm in response. Sirius' eyes shot fire as he turned to her with a glare.

"Mrs. Weasley shut up!" Harry bit at her before Sirius could open his mouth. Shocked, everyone turned to him while Molly stopped moving and stared at him wide-eyed.

"Harry dear...you..."

"No! You have no right to talk to him like that! To either of them for that matter. You have no idea what caused him to react like he did. No idea!" he hissed as he moved to stand between the two Marauders and Molly protectively.

"All you ever do is berate them, yell at them and treat them like crap while you have no clue of what those two have been through. I won't stand for it anymore, enough is enough. If you cannot be nice and respectful to them, then you should keep your mouth shut and piss off. I appreciate all you've done for me these last couple of years but I won't let that be an excuse to accept your horrible behaviour."

Molly looked scandalized and taken back, spluttering as he glared at her.

"Harry...they endangered us all, their irrational behaviour is..."

"They had everything under control. Unlike what you seem to think, they are no stupid children. They are both incredibly powerful and brilliant wizards, everyone knows that. But you refuse to see that with your own narrow mind! They would never endanger any of us on purpose and always strive to protect us," Harry interrupted her.

"Harry..."

"Don't Harry me, Sirius! I'm sick of how she is treating you guys, especially you. It is true that Remus lost control just now. But you had his back like you have always had each other's back and we all knew it. No one tried to run from the room to escape the flames because we all knew you had it under control. She has no idea what caused his reaction and she won't ever be able to understand because she doesn't know either of you. She calls you childish and immature but she is the one incapable of dealing with trauma," Harry snapped at Sirius, immediately regretting it when his godfather flinched but hardening his eyes to prevent himself from calming down. He turned back to Molly when she spluttered again.

"I am a mother, I know perfectly well..."

"No you don't! Your only answer to dealing with trauma is stuffing your children with food and then throwing stupid chores at them to prevent them from talking about it. Or you yell at them. Did Ginny ever receive help after being possessed? I'm willing to bet a million Galleons that she hasn't or Sirius wouldn't have woken her up from nightmares half of the summer. And any times the twins do something you don't like you yell at them, never asking if there might be a reason for their actions."

Harry's eyes flashed. "When they stole the family car to save me that summer they told you there were bars before my window and the Dursleys starved me. Your only reaction was to yell at them and stuff me with food. You never once told them they did a good job for taking action when no one else did. Every memory I have of you is being unfair to them and Ron. Nothing they do is ever good enough compared to perfect Percy. You keep being kind and friendly to me while berating Ron when he does the same things I do," Harry shook his head slightly when the twins, Ginny and Ron tensed at being mentioned. But they followed his order and kept silent.

Hermione looked scandalized of how he spoke to Mrs. Weasley, but his glare was enough to keep her silent too.

"And I can't even begin to explain or understand why you are treating Sirius like crap. He's done nothing wrong. He accepted you and your children into his house, saved your daughter's life when she endangered it and taught your children how to defend themselves. And yet all you do to repay him is yell at him and treat him like he's a moron. You insult him while he's done nothing to deserve such behaviour. He cares for me and tries to teach me things that might save my life in the long run and yet you try to block him at every turn."

He took a deep breath and Molly took that moment to protest.

"I am only trying to protect you, you are like a son to me."

"Quite frankly Mrs. Weasley I am not and I never will be. I would never want you as my mother. A mother should love her children unconditionally, care for them and accept them as they are. You only compare them to each other and beat them down."

"I've never beaten my children!"

"You might not have raised your hand at them but you beat them down verbally at every opportunity. The twins have this amazing dream they want to fulfil and the only thing you do is try to force them into a job they would be miserable at. That's just as bad as beating them would be. You call yourself a great mother but the truth is you aren't. If anyone would qualify as a mother it would be Sirius and Remus. They listen to me no matter what it is about. They don't tell me to do things without telling me the reason why. Neither of them are keeping things from me under the claim that I am too young."

"That is for your own benefit. There is no need to burden you with adult things. You are just a child!" Molly exclaimed angrily.

"Voldemort has been trying to kill me since I was a baby. How is it for my benefit to be kept in the dark when there's a lunatic after me? Time after time you have kept me in the dark, refusing to tell me important things under the claim that I am too young to be burdened with it. Well, I wasn't too young to have faced Voldemort five times now. I wasn't too young for my parents to be murdered. I wasn't too young to watch a potential friend be killed before my eyes and be put under the Cruciatus Curse while a bunch of so called adults stood by and watched as their master did so. People have been trying to kill me since my first year and you know what, Mrs Weasley? The only one who has truly ever tried to protect me was Sirius, and everyone thought he was a murderer out to get me, another thing I was too young to know about!" Harry's voice rose despite his effort to keep it down. He was so angry...so incredibly angry and though he wished he was able to channel his anger into power like Sirius did, he couldn't so he just took a great satisfaction to get it all off his chest by yelling at Mrs. Weasley.

"We have always tried to look out for you...Professor Dumbledore has always protected you!" Molly shrieked.

"Yeah? When! Where was Dumbledore when Quirrell tried to kill me? Where was that man when most of the school shunned me, believing I was the heir of Slytherin. Where was he when Ginny was dragged into the Chamber and I had to face Voldemort's younger form? Where was he when Sirius broke into Hogwarts not once...but twice! If Sirius had been what everyone believed him to be Ron and I would both be dead now. Dumbledore wasn't there when we faced him, despite knowing our tendency to run into trouble. Despite knowing very well that we'd go to Hagrid's after Buckbeak was sentenced to death. Remus knew after only teaching us for a year and he kept an eye out. So where was our great all knowing Headmaster?"

Harry's eyes shot fire.

"What did he do when my name was pulled from that stupid goblet? Every champion was helped by their Headmaster but I had only a disguised Death Eater trying to help me. Crouch Junior was more concerned with my continued existence than Dumbledore ever was, and he only wanted to deliver me to his master so he could kill me!"

Harry took a breath before continuing slightly calmer.

"Quite frankly Mrs. Weasley, Dumbledore has done a lousy job in your so called looking out for me. All he's ever done is keep me from the one person who's always tried to help me." Harry glanced at Sirius and Remus, who were both staring at him with a small proud smile and gave a small apologizing smile to Remus who only smiled back understandingly before Harry turned back to Molly.

"Yesterday we accidentally ran into trouble and it were these two troublemakers, as you refer to them as, that protected me. Sirius was tortured because he took his split second chance to protect himself to ensure I was out of harm's way instead. Remus kept me safe from those not busy trying to curse Sirius till he could break free. Sirius killed Greyback when he threatened me and tried to attack me and they killed Voldemort because he was a threat to me."

He swallowed. "And today they took me to the Dursleys and dealt with them, something no one has ever done for me before. They were more than ready to rip them apart and kill them for how they treated me but they listened to my request not to harm them. They listen when I ask them something so don't you dare tell me that they are unfit guardians for me."

He glared at Molly as she stared at him in shock, as did most of the others, but he ignored them.

"I give you one warning Mrs. Weasley. I've been trying to be nice to you because you are Ron's mother and he's my best friend and I'm rather fond of the twins and Mr. Weasley too. But if you keep behaving towards my family as you are now I will make you pay. And I won't hold back because you are their mother then. Is that clear?"

Molly opened and closed her mouth a few times before Harry's glare intensified and she quickly nodded.

"Good," without another word Harry turned his back on her and looked at Sirius and Remus, his thunderous expression softening immediately as he caught sight of their unchanged position.

"Are you all right again now?" He asked Remus, who was looking at him in a mix of shock and pride but shifted uncomfortable now.

"Yeah...sorry about that," he hoarsely said as Sirius squeezed his hand.

"Don't be. I think I know exactly why you did that," Harry said grimly as he glanced at Sirius before looking Remus into the eyes determinedly. Remus swallowed before he gave a small nod, understanding that Harry indeed did understand.

He glanced at Sirius for a moment before he turned his gaze back to Harry and tensing as he caught sight of everyone else. "I did endanger everyone though."

"Nonsense. The moment I felt your magic spike I threw a shield over everyone to keep them from harm. And you are more than capable of using Fiendfyre and controlling it. You just got a little emotional and if you wish to blame anyone for that it should be me," Sirius contradicted him, challenging him to deny the truth.

Remus opened his mouth to say something before he closed it again and sighed.

"If anyone's to blame it was that hag," Harry muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. Remus and Sirius both chuckled and Sirius ruffled Harry's hair affectionately.

"You said you felt Remus' magic spike?" Hermione asked suddenly. "That is impossible. Only the most powerful wizards have ever been able to identify one's signature or feel it when their magic was about to react."

Sirius snorted. "Everyone can if you are close enough. James, Remus and I have been able to tell if one was upset, scared or angry by detecting each other's magic since first year."

"That's amazing!" George and Fred spoke in awe.

"Not really. Harry can recognize my signature and if I'm not mistaken you both did too. And I'm sure you can feel each other's magic perfectly too," Sirius said and the twins nodded.

Fred opened his mouth to say something when the door bell ringing interrupted him.

They all turned to it before glancing at one another before Fred moved to the door and checked who it was.

"It's Dumbledore," he said as he turned to Sirius, who sighed.

"Best to get it over with then," he answered and Fred opened the door with a nod.

"Sirius, Remus...Harry, you are all here," Dumbledore sounded relieved as the door opened and he immediately spotted them.

He stepped inside before stopping, his eyes catching and taking in the blackened and destroyed hallway.

"What happened here?" he asked as he looked around.

"We decided to burn a few things," Sirius said shortly before he turned around. "Let's go talk in the living room. I'd like to sit down."

He took a step before letting out a low growl that made Harry and Remus chuckle but the rest frown confused. Remus shifted Sirius' hand to his arm and bent it before he bowed slightly to him.

"Shall I escort you to the couch, my fair friend?" he teasingly asked, making Sirius raise an eyebrow at him in confusion.

"Fair friend?"

"Harry did refer to you as his mother," Remus laughed as Sirius slapped him on the arm. His eyes finally twinkled again as he brightened up.

"You are the mother hen of the two of us so if anything you would qualify for that role," Sirius protested though he curled his fingers around Remus' lower arm for a better balance and let him help him to the living room, making Harry snicker.

"Why is he helping him move?" Ron asked confused.

"Harry did say Sirius was tortured," Fred said softly as he followed the two with his eyes before following them.

"Are you all right, Sirius?" he asked worriedly.

"Yeah, just sore and I hurt my ankle," Sirius admitted with a sigh. "Remus' been acting as my crutch since we woke up this morning."

"I don't mind. It is a refreshing change from it being the other way around after every full moon."

He helped Sirius sit down on the couch before sitting down next to him and Harry taking Sirius' other side while the twins claimed the seats closest to them. The others gathered around them and Dumbledore conjured an oversized loveseat he sat down in.

"How was your vacation?" he pleasantly asked as he directed himself to Sirius.

"Don't bother with the small talk, we have no desire to waste our time on you all morning so get to the point." Surprisingly Remus was the one who spoke. "I have more plans for us today and you were not included in them, so hurry up."

Dumbledore blinked at him for a moment before he nodded.

"Last night I called an emergency order meeting after shocking news came to the light. Severus came to me to inform me his Dark Mark was inflamed, burning his skin before it died out and left the Mark like a fresh burn wound. Not much later Kingsley contacted me to inform me that Lord Voldemort's corpse had been delivered to the Ministry's holding cells, courtesy of the three of you. A late night Daily Prophet edition came out with quite the story. It said you are responsible for the death of Voldemort," Dumbledore looked at Remus for confirmation.

"We are," he answered calmly.

"How did you come into contact with him?" Dumbledore asked as everyone stared at the three in awe.

"On a personal trip we Apparated to the wrong place and time and ended up in the middle of a Death Eater gathering."

"Where did you Apparate to?"

"Norfolk," Remus answered.

"What were you doing there?" Dumbledore asked.

"Nothing that has anything to do with you," Remus answered shortly, making Dumbledore blink surprised again.

"He is just asking," Hermione told him scandalized.

"And I am just informing him it is none of his business what we were doing," Remus answered her curtly.

"I need all the pieces to be able to form my conclusion Remus. It is very important to know all the details," Dumbledore explained patiently.

"We Apparated to the wrong place, had a bit of a fight and got out fairly unscathed," Remus summed up. "Well...mostly unscathed. There is no all pieces. Voldemort is dead and most of his followers there were caught."

"How did you kill him?"

"Sirius transfigured him into a bug, Harry told him to step on him and I killed him," Remus sighed.

"You stepped on You-Know-Who? Wicked!" the twins called out with huge grins.

"And you caught several Death Eaters?" Ginny asked amazed.

"A few not sure how many," Remus admitted. "I was mostly busy taking out the werewolves so they couldn't form a threat to Sirius and Harry."

"According to the article fifty three Marked Death Eaters were captured and twelve unmarked sympathizers. Of the total forty five were killed. Lucius Malfoy, Crabbe, Avery and Fenrir Greyback were among the dead," Dumbledore informed them. "There was no mentioning of werewolves though I assume those were the unmarked ones."

"Good riddance and they probably were," Sirius growled.

"Hmmm," Remus agreed.

"Though he did most of the work for us in the end," Sirius commented, making Harry snicker.

"What do you mean?" Fred asked.

"During our fight his lackeys formed a circle around us. I pissed him off enough that while trying to kill me he accidentally took out most of his own followers," Sirius said with a smirk.

"Wicked!" twins exclaimed

"You are sure Voldemort is dead? You saw his dead body?" Dumbledore asked, turning the conversation back to where he wanted it to be.

"Yes," Remus said with a hint of impatience.

"I am sorry Remus, but he's not truly dead..." Dumbledore said gravely as he looked at the three.

The Weasleys and Hermione glanced at each other confused, but Sirius snorted.

"Yes he is," He said annoyed as he straightened a little bit, like he knew what was coming.

"No, there are things at play here that you have no idea about."

"Try me," Sirius challenged as he looked at Dumbledore steadily, holding his gaze unbothered.

Dumbledore shifted uncomfortable at his cold gaze and broke the contact almost immediately.

"In the wrong hands this information would be deadly!"

"A pencil can be deadly in the hands of a toddler too,' Sirius waved his dramatic words off and Harry and Remus snickered.

"Voldemort had access to magic darker than anything you have ever imagined."

"I doubt it. He wasn't very good at being inventive and I promise you, I know a whole lot more about Dark Magic that you would ever believe at any rate."

Dumbledore shifted in his seat once more, glancing at the others uncomfortable before focusing on Sirius again.

"My b...I-I mean...Sirius. You do not know what you are talking about. This horrible magic ensures that he cannot die. I am sure Remus meant well, but Voldemort cannot be killed that easily," Dumbledore still sounded gravely disturbed as he attempted to make them see just how grave the situation was while holding on a tone of friendliness. Harry was sure it was because the man didn't want to face Sirius' anger once more.

"Oh you mean his Horcruxes? We've taken care of those long ago. And honestly? He was a fool to use such obvious objects to place his soul in. Any idiot could have figured them out and taken care of them. Just a little Fiendfyre and be done with it if you don't know the other means," Sirius shrugged.

"You know about the Horcruxes!" Dumbledore exclaimed shocked.

"I am the heir to one of the darkest families in all of history. Of course I know about Horcruxes, and quite frankly they were rather easy to destroy."

"What are Horcruxes?" Hermione asked curiously. Her question seemed to make Dumbledore and Molly realize they were still there too and both their eyes widened.

"Really Dark Magic that rips your soul apart and leaves you mentally insane but keeps you from truly dying. I wouldn't go looking for it if I were you, as most of them are protected by dark magic," Sirius answered her calmly.

"Sirius!" Dumbledore and Molly exclaimed in shock at his honesty.

"You can't tell them that, in fact they shouldn't even be here for this conversation. It is much too dangerous." Molly screeched, making her children and Hermione tense as they feared being thrown out of the room.

"They must go, this information is deadly in the wrong hands!" Dumbledore continued panicked as he made an attempt to stand up, only to be pushed back into his chair by a wave of Remus' wand.

"Oh hush. It is better to tell her the truth than have her try and find out things for herself, misunderstand and almost kill herself in her attempt to learn everything she had no business knowing," Sirius waved them both off.

"They are only children!" Molly shrieked but shut her mouth immediately and paled when Harry glared at her.

"And one of them is a child stupid enough to have to know absolutely everything there is to know. It is better to be clear with her than to leave her wondering, which is sure to drag herself and her friends into danger by her ridiculous need to know everything. I've already told Harry about the Horcruxes so she won't lead him into danger for an absurd quest."

"But he is in grave danger! Even if you took care of the Horcruxes, you cannot possibly know you got them all. I know you couldn't have," Dumbledore replied stricken as he realised Sirius wasn't going to send the children away.

Molly made a weak attempt to object but a combined glare from Sirius and Remus made her shrink back into her chair where she spluttered inaudibly.

The children relaxed upon realising they would be allowed to stay.

"Rubbish. I spoke to Slughorn. He was the potions master when Voldemort went to school and sources told us he and Riddle discussed the subject. The book containing the information on the subject was findable in the Forbidden Section back in those days so he only wanted to confirm what he couldn't find in there," Remus said.

"The bastard had an incredibly soft spot for Riddle so he would answer him truthfully. And after some probing he told Remus the truth about what he said," Sirius added.

"Still, even if you somehow discovered the amount, you cannot possible understand what it means…what happened." Dumbledore started to sound desperate now as he glanced between Remus and Sirius.

"Don't we? Perhaps we understand things better than you, Headmaster. I admit I failed to see the truth on that horrible night with everything that had happened. But I have long since known the truth after seeing Harry again. And I can assure you that I've been working on it ever since to ensure it was removed."

"You know…" Dumbledore whispered.

"Of course I know, you old fool. The nightmares, the looking into Voldemort's head and knowing what's happening? The headaches and the pain in the scar? Not to mention the scar itself. How could I not know the truth? Better, how could you not have taken care of it the moment you kidnapped Harry from my care all those years ago!" Sirius' voice rose at the end as he glared at Dumbledore, who shrank back into his chair.

"Y-you don't understand, Sirius. To remove a Horcrux you have to destroy the vessel!" Immediately Dumbledore paled after he yelled that and Sirius' eyes flashed dangerously.

"Bollocks! That is not how I learned to deal with things if the maker wouldn't feel remorse. There are many ways to deal with a Horcrux, destruction is not even very high on my list. You just need something more than human magic. Have you ever even tried to include the Goblins? Or House Elf magic?"

"That wouldn't be strong enough…'

"No? That's odd because I surely remember having relocated the essence of the Horcrux from Harry's scar to an object so that I could take care of it without ever endangering Harry's life in any way. Why did the great and so called powerful Albus Dumbledore not think of a way to prevent the child from suffering?"

"Harry's a Horcrux?!" Hermione and Ginny exclaimed shocked but the others shushed them as they stared at the Headmaster and Sirius.

"I am not a child, Siri," Harry protested softly, having kept silent throughout the entire discussion about him, knowing Sirius needed to take the lead on this.

"You are Harry. A very wise, smart and capable young man, but still just a child for a little while longer, I hope. You shouldn't have had to suffer the way you did if this ignorant old goat had simply shared his knowledge a long time ago," His soft tone changed as he turned his attention back to Dumbledore.

"But no…the great bloody blooming Dumbledore is so much better than anyone else, how could anyone else possible think they could know something he does not. Who cares if lives could be saved in sharing intelligence. If death could have been prevented as long as he has the upper hand," Sirius bit at him.

"I can promise you one thing you stubborn self imposed gormless old codger, no more. You will never have any say about things anymore. I should have stopped you from taking control fourteen years ago but I was a trusting idiot and it cost me almost everything I loved. But no more. After this is over I want you and your so called rubbish intelligence out of this house to never return again. I am done with letting you manipulate me and my loved ones."

"You don't know what you are talking about. There was no other way, the Horcruxes are not destroyed, they can't be. It is impossible to remove them from their vessels!" Dumbledore protested.

"No? The Black library says it is not, and when we experimented on the Horcrux we found in a locket while cleaning last summer it worked perfectly."

Several gasped as they all remembered that occurrence and Ron shifted uncomfortable, remembering his touching it.

"Experimented with it!" Dumbledore's voice rose a pitch.

"Yes, we had Kreacher remove it from the locket into a rat and then to a bottle. He was more than happy to help once we explained we wanted to destroy it and it worked perfectly. Tried it a few more times with small animals till we used the one in Harry's scar to try it on Nagini."

"How did you use Harry to get to Nagini?" Fred interrupted curiously.

"Occlumency. I entered his mind, reached the Horcrux and used it to confirm the others before doing what I had set out to do," Sirius answered him.

"What did you set out to do?" Hermione gasped frightened.

"Remove the Horcrux inside her without killing her. Worked too so we removed the one in Harry's scar to a small animal before relocating it to an old clock which we then used to destroy all of them in a chain reaction using dark family magic."

"But Voldemort would be alerted immediately to such an occurrence. The connection he has with Nagini…"

"Was kept completely intact. We cast a different spell on her that left her obedience and their communicative abilities intact. We destroyed the actual Horcrux and Voldemort killed him herself in our fight," Sirius revealed.

"But Professor Dumbledore said a Horcrux can't be killed by normal magic…how was You-Know-Who able to kill her?" Ginny asked terrified, it was no secret that she hated snakes since what had happened to her.

"Even if the Horcrux hadn't already been destroyed, he could kill her because he was the creator. By using the Killing Curse he would effectively have killed the Horcrux in her," Sirius said.

"I completely missed that happening," Harry said with remorse. He would have loved to see Voldemort's reaction to that.

"I don't think he even noticed. I kind of pissed him off, remember?" Sirius had rightly guessed his thoughts, making Harry laugh.

"Oh I don't think I'll ever forget. He took out most of his own followers because he was so angry with you. I believe you called him a bug queen?"

Hermione gasped and she wasn't the only one as Molly looked at him like he was insane.

"You called the greatest Dark Lord of all time a bug queen?" Fred and George asked in awe.

"He also told him he was a cockroach moments before transfiguring him into one and squashing him under his foot," Harry enjoyed their shocked faces at that.

"But the Daily Prophet said it was Remus who took him out," Hermione protested, not willing to believe Sirius had taken the Dark Lord out so easily while so many others had struggled for so long.

"Oh he did. After I stepped on him we transfigured him back and Remus killed him."

"But wasn't he already dead if you stepped on him?" Ron asked confused.

"Remus finished him off," Sirius said shortly.

"But the Horcruxes..." Dumbledore complained once more.

"Are all gone. We located all seven of them to ensure that."

"You found them all? How!" Dumbledore asked as he looked at Sirius in shock once more.

"Weren't you listening? We had already figured most of them out and I was able to confirm them as correct while in Harry's mind. It wasn't hard to figure them out actually," he paused to gather his thoughts.

"We already knew about Harry and the Diary and we suspected about a third due to Slughorn's memory. Then a reliable source told me about the Lost Diadem of Ravenclaw. What were the odds that he would want to use other significant objects like that? So we looked up what else was both missing and famous."

"Harry told us that Godric's Sword was in your possession all that time so that one was out. But I knew where the Diadem was hidden in Hogwarts and Harry retrieved it before sending it over with Dobby. It wasn't difficult to decide he'd have used Hufflepuffs Cup, too," he glanced at the tapestry.

"Kreacher told us that Voldemort had entrusted Lucius Malfoy with a Diary and Bellatrix with a Cup for safekeeping while Regulus was requested to bring Kreacher. Well, I say he told us, but apparently Regulus forbad him from telling anyone in the family about the events. So I had him tell Remus instead of me. Long story short, Regulus regretted joining the Death Eaters, discovered Voldemort's secret and borrowed Kreacher to him in the hopes of discovering a way to kill him, which is how he found out about a Horcrux. Ordered Kreacher to escape without him and destroy the Locket before he himself was killed by the protections around the Horcrux, the idiot," Sirius shook his head.

"Why was he an idiot?" George asked softly.

"Because if he had just told Kreacher to get them both the bloody hell out of there he'd still be alive too. But because he had told him to leave with it Kreacher couldn't help him no matter how much he wanted to. He had been ordered to leave without him and couldn't disobey a direct order like that."

"That's House Elf enslavement right there," Hermione said angrily.

"Probably, but that's not really high on my priority list right now. Anyway, we already knew Lucius dumped the Diary on Ginny and Harry destroyed that one, which left the Cup, that one was easy."

"Easy!" Dumbledore screeched disbelievingly.

"Yes. The Lestranges married into the Black family, meaning that I am their Head of House and in control of their Vaults while they are rotting away in Azkaban. The safest place to keep an important item is Gringotts, so I send Remus as my representative to check the Lestrange Vault. He found the cup and brought it back here...got a few burns in the process but that was easily taken care of. With that one accounted for we only had one left to find."

"What was the seventh?" Dumbledore asked in a whisper.

"Marvolo Gaunt's ring," Remus answered, making Dumbledore gasp.

"How did you discover that connection?" He asked with wide eyes and Harry realised this was all new information for him.

"Through Voldemort himself. His surname was Riddle so while in hiding I did a background check on that family and found a connection between a Tom Riddle eloping with the local tramp's daughter, a Merope Gaunt. The Gaunts were a pureblood family I had learned about as a child and arriving here I found pictures of that family in an old book where Marvolo Gaunt wore the family ring. The same ring Riddle wore during his conversation with Slughorn. We found it at the old house the last descendants of the Gaunts used to live in."

"It wasn't pretty to get through those spells without tearing them apart, but we managed," Remus concluded.

"How did you manage?" Hermione asked, leaning forward even more.

"We are Marauders," they both said at the same time, making Harry and the twins laugh. Hermione huffed at the explanation as it didn't tell her anything.

"Why did you not inform me that you were hunting Horcruxes? I could have helped you...I should have known," Dumbledore spoke up again.

"Why should we have? Did you ever share any information of what you know unless it benefits you?" Sirius snorted.

"We had no intention to involve you. You had fourteen years to discover them and you failed. You knew Harry's scar was a Horcrux and you did nothing to try and remove it. Why should we have trusted you?" Remus continued.

"Professor Dumbledore must have had his reasons. He knows everything. It must have taken you years to find them too!" Hermione was quick to defend her hero.

"Two months," Remus revealed.

"What?"

"Two months, that's how long it took us to figure out what they were, where they were hidden, check on them and destroy them. Tell me Miss Granger. Why is it that your brilliant hero wasn't able to find them in fourteen years but an escapee and a werewolf could? While we were a lot less mobile than he has ever been."

"He thought You-Know- Who was dead, he had no reason to go hunt the Horcruxes," Hermione countered.

"No he didn't. Hagrid told me Dumbledore believed he was still hiding somewhere, powerless and weak when I got my letter. And even if he hadn't known back then he could have known in second year when that Diary Riddle possessed Ginny," Harry nodded to Sirius.

"That is how Sirius realised the truth. He had already realised I was carrying what was likely to be a Horcrux when I told him about my scar hurting in the summer before fourth year and began researching how to destroy one. When I told him about the Chamber of Secrets, he realised what the Diary had been and began to hunt down the others."

"But he couldn't have known how many there were!" Hermione stubbornly said.

"I've had my sources, who told me they had overheard some of Slughorn and Riddle's conversation. And through another source I was able to confirm Voldemort's appearance had slowly begun to change drastically from all the way back to his own Hogwarts time.

"Why seven though?" Ron asked.

"Because seven is the most magical number in the Wizarding world. The number has always meant something to Voldemort. But he meant to make only six Horcruxes, his own body the seventh," Remus answered.

"Why did he make seven then?" Hermione asked.

"I don't think he ever planned to. Harry's scar was sort of an accident I believe and one he didn't know about. Do you really think he would have so actively tried to kill him if he had known? He'd have enchanted him and kept him safe if he'd known Harry was a Horcrux," Sirius explained.

"All is well, but you should never have tried to do things on your own like that. I could have helped, it was dangerous to try it on your own," Dumbledore insisted.

"It is dangerous to listen to you. You would have tried to get us to leave it, saying you'd handle it. If we had listened to you, then you would have insisted Harry needed to die to destroy the Horcrux," Remus snapped at him.

Hermione looked gobsmacked as she realised Remus was right and Dumbledore had indeed implied the vessel had to be destroyed to destroy the Horcrux. If that was true then the Headmaster had been planning to get Harry killed! She stared at the Headmaster like she had never seen him before.

"We don't take orders from you, not anymore. Listening to your orders is what has gotten many of us killed," Sirius additionally snapped at Dumbledore, who looked very much ashen by what the two Marauders were throwing at him.

"So You-Know- Who is truly dead?" Molly whispered.

"Completely and utterly. Which means that I want you gone here too. Hogwarts starts again in a little over a week and then I want you out. We won't be staying here but once Harry's left for school again, Remus and I will return to seal the house off again so no one can enter it. There is no acute danger to your family anymore, so it's time to return home."

"Where will you be going?" Dumbledore asked leaving Harry surprised he wasn't protesting. But then he caught sight of Sirius twirling his wand between his fingers and realised his Headmaster was afraid of what Sirius would do if he protested.

"We found a nice little place to live in."

"But this is the perfect house!" Hermione protested. "It is safe and huge..."

"And dark and terrible and not a place either of us wishes to live in," Harry cut her off.

"We found a brilliant place where we'll live with the three of us. Which is actually the reason we are here, to pick up some things we wish to keep before leaving again."

Sirius slowly stood up again, Remus and Harry following his example immediately to help him gain his balance.

"You aren't staying?" Ron and the twins asked disappointed as everyone else rose too.

"Sorry guys, but I want to spend as much remaining time with my family as possible. We only agreed to go pick up stuff now because we knew there would be questions we wanted answered before school started again."

"Sirius...I..." Dumbledore attempted to speak up once more.

"I have no desire to talk to you any longer. Is that Umbridge woman gone yet?"

"Yes...she was removed from Hogwarts by Amelia Bones right after the start of Christmas vacation."

"Good. Then Harry will return to Hogwarts on the appropriate date, and further you have no say in what he does in his free time. If I hear anything about you trying to manipulate him I will make sure you regret it. Are we clear? And I will know."

"I...yes," Dumbledore hesitated for another moment but Sirius turned his back on him to speak to Remus, so he sighed and took his leave.

Molly stared between his retreating form and the two other men before following him out of the door, seemingly not wishing to be alone with them anymore.

"Do you want to catch up with your friends while we gather some stuff?" Sirius asked as he looked at Harry.

"That would be nice, where do you want to meet up?" Harry agreed.

"The library? I've retrieved an owl from McGonagall this morning. She will be here around noon so it would be wise to meet up there as the necessary equipment is there."

Harry felt his heart jump at knowing what would happen once she was there and grinned.

"Sure thing, we'll wait at the library for you guys. Wouldn't it be wise for you to use an actual crutch while we are here?" He asked as he eyed Sirius favouring his right foot once more.

"I hate crutches," Sirius muttered but he nodded to Remus as he made a move for his wand and quickly a simply crutch was conjured and Sirius leaned on that.

"I'll do downstairs if you pick upstairs?" He bargained with his friend, making Remus laugh.

"Sure, I don't see you walking up the stairs right now."

"Right...," Sirius glanced at his pocket watch. "Let's meet up in the library in half a hour okay?"

Nods of agreement were given and both Remus and Sirius left the room while Harry and the others moved towards the library.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some Hermione and Dumbledore bashing

"So, where have you been?" Fred asked as they arrived in the library and had gathered around the large table there.

"I don't think I have ever seen you with such a tan before. Not even when you spend most of the summer with us," George continued while eyeing Harry's darkened complexion approvingly.

"Or the others. Remus looks fantastic and I almost even didn't recognise Sirius," Fred added.

Harry snorted. "He is paler than any of us."

"Not in tan, but his entire self. He is so full of life, a bit wobbly right now but so much more energetic than we are used to seeing him. And he's gained some much needed weight. He truly looks healthy now," Fred explained.

"He looks a lot more like the man in that picture of your parents wedding," Ginny softly said.

"I don't think the effects of Azkaban will ever fully disappear, but he actually regained some of his old looks again, yeah," Harry admitted with a smile.

"He looks quite dashing. If that is only some of his old looks I wouldn't want to know how gorgeous he used to be." George laughed, not in the least bit bothered when most of the others looked at him in shock.

"He does, doesn't he? You should have seen him in Disney, that's an amusement park based on fairy tales by the way, had all three of us dress up as pirates so that he could hold sword-fights with us both," Harry chuckled. "The people around us certainly thought he looked dashing."

"So the ladies rather enjoyed seeing him dressed up?" George said with a wink.

"Not just the ladies. I think the only reason no one tried to chat him up was because Remus was there."

"Why wouldn't they chat him up because of Remus' presence?" Hermione asked confused.

"Because they look and act like a couple half of the time?" Fred looked at her like he couldn't believe she didn't know that.

"They do, especially when they are just their usual selves," Harry laughed.

"Their usual selves?"Ron wondered perplexed.

"Hmmmm, holding each other's sleeve or shirt, holding hands and their entire relaxed and lazy attitude around one another makes people think they are more than just friends."

"Holding hands?" Hermione shrieked.

"Yeah, they do so often. And since this vacation was the first time in a long time that Sirius was surrounded by so many people while not hiding as Padfoot, he was rather uneasy and twitchy at times. So to help him relax, Remus held his hand to anchor him and let him know he was safe that way."

"Why didn't he simply hold your hand then if it was contact he needed," Ginny asked.

"Oh, he did to make sure we weren't separated or occasionally when he wasn't paying attention he'd unconsciously slip a hand in mine. But I don't make him feel half as safe as Remus does. Which is logically honestly as I'm only a fifteen-year-old and Remus is someone he knows like the back of his hand."

"I can't imagine two grown men not dating willingly walking hand in hand," Hermione complained with a shake of her head.

"I can. I've seen plenty of pictures of my dad and Sirius doing exactly that. Or holding each other's arms, an arm slipped around the waist or shoulders.There is hardly any photo I've seen where they are not touching in some way at least once. Remus told me both Dad and Sirius have always been really tactile so to see him do so again now puts him at ease as well. Me too, actually," Harry recalled his own tension lifting every time his godfather's fingers brushed against his arm or hand.

"What does it matter if they hold hands or not. If it makes them happy and comfortable I'd say let them," George shrugged. "You saw how it calmed Remus down after what happened in the hall. They kept touching throughout the entire discussion with Dumbledore, too. I think it is amazing that they can be so close without being uncomfortable."

"Yeah, I walk hand in hand with Forge often enough too, if the urge strikes me. And he held my hand in the hall, too, when the flames surrounded us. It is what close brothers do when the desire strikes," Fred defended the two Marauder's actions.

"Sirius and Remus are not brothers," Hermione snapped at him.

"Maybe not in blood, but those two are brothers. Probably not as close a pair as Sirius and Harry's dad were from what I've heard, but they are definitely brothers. Anyone with eyes can see that," George snapped right back at her.

"It is hard to believe otherwise. So many years of betrayal, lies and deceit lies between them. So much misunderstanding and they both must have changed after all that they've been through. And yet they closed the bridge between them seamlessly in no time. We know what happened in the Shrieking Shack from Harry, that instant forgiveness, the way those two reconnected...how can they not be brothers?" Fred's voice was full of emotion.

"Friends wouldn't become that close again that instantly in no time without some lingering mistrust. There would always be something that keeps an edge between them after such a long time has passed. There is none between Remus and Sirius," Harry added, his voice equally emotional, remembering when he and Ron had fought the year before. He had forgiven him immediately but there was still some doubt whenever something arose that might flare his friend's jealously again. A doubt that he truthfully didn't think would ever disappear fully.

Hermione huffed in annoyance but didn't continue her arguing as even Ron and Ginny nodded to Fred and Harry's words.

"Besides, Remus' reaction to what Sirius' mother screamed betrayed more than anything just how close those two are," Fred continued, making Ginny, Ron and Hermione frown.

"What do you mean? He just got angry and used deadly fire to destroy it," Ron said.

"Really? Have you ever seen Remus angry enough to lose control like that? No, that was an anger like only a family member could feel or a really, really close friend. You heard what that woman screamed at Sirius, didn't you?" George asked.

"Not really, she was screaming gibberish. It sounded like spells but nothing I have ever heard of," Hermione admitted.

"That's because it was probably dark magic she was trying to cast at her son," George continued.

Shocked Hermione opened her mouth before she frowned. "She wouldn't curse her own child, no matter how much she yells at him..."

"Their reaction said otherwise. If Remus hadn't acted I think Harry would have. That was quite a flame you were producing too, though Remus' was far more impressive," George nodded to Harry who flushed. He hadn't wanted to get involved in this particular discussion but now he was anyway.

"You saw that?" He asked a bit nervously.

"Of course we did. We do pay attention even when people are screaming. Remind me to never piss you off because the anger and hatred in your eyes was quite scary," George shifted his weight as he looked at Fred before continuing. "Though Remus was beyond livid. If half of the emotions in his eyes were accurate...I almost wish I could have gotten my own hands on that banshee."

"I must admit that Sirius terrified me more," Fred said softly as he grabbed George's hand and pulled him closer to him.

"Why? Remus was the angry one. Sirius didn't do anything, he just stood there," Ron frowned.

"Exactly."

"Exactly what?" Hermione added to the conversation.

Harry shifted uncomfortably. He knew exactly what Fred meant but didn't think he wanted the others to know it, too, if they truly hadn't realised it yet. For as long as he had known Sirius, his godfather had never just stood there. He had always acted or reacted. The fact that he had frozen had made them realise something, or at least had made the twins realised it.

For a man who had not backed down from Voldemort, Dumbledore, their mother or the screaming of his own mother when all were angry. For a man who had survived twelve years in Azkaban and then cornered the one responsible for putting him there along with a previous close friend and three teenagers without a wand of his own. For a person like that to freeze in fear at the useless spell casting of a mere painting said a lot about what the person in the painting had done to him in the past. It made Harry uncomfortable to know the twins had realised the significance. And he had no doubt they probably knew at least part of the truth, seeing how they had correctly interpreted Remus and his reactions.

He glanced at the two, wondering if he could change the subject without it being too obvious when Fred spoke again.

"It's nothing. So, where have you been all this time? You mentioned theme parks?"

The sudden change of subject left everyone blinking but Harry shot Fred a grateful smile, getting one in return along with a wink.

"Among other things...where to start..." Harry trailed off as he thought back to their vacation.

"Start with your grand exit from Hogwarts. Where did you go?" George urged him on.

"Godric's Hollow. Last summer I had asked them if we could visit there sometime. We knew that once the news of their breaking into Hogwarts got out, the Ministry would surely send some Aurors to guard the area, assuming we'd go there. So we Apparated there directly from Hogwarts for a visit."

"What is in Godric's Hollow that you would want to visit?" Hermione asked confused. "I know it is where your parents used to live but why would you want to visit their murder site?"

"Because my parents were buried there," Harry looked at her strangely. "I've wanted to visit their graves since I was little but never knew where it was until Remus told me. It turned out that Sirius hadn't known the truth either, so we went to visit at the first opportunity."

"How could Sirius not know where they are buried? Weren't he and your dad best friends?" disbelieving Hermione stared at Harry.

"Because he was arrested mere hours after my parents died and only escaped two years ago after discovering Pettigrew would be close to me at Hogwarts. After we rescued him he had to leave the country for his own safety and only returned when I was in danger again. Upon which he hid in a cave as a dog for the rest of the year. When do you suppose he had the chance to learn where their true graves were?" he snapped at her.

"Remus could have told him," Hermione defended herself.

"I could have told who what?" Remus entered the library with a small suitcase, placing it on the ground next to the table before pulling a chair out to sit down.

"Hermione believes that you could have told Siri where Mum and Dad were truly buried." Harry turned to Remus so he wouldn't have to look at Hermione for a moment.

"I could have. Not sure when would have been a good idea, though. When he ran from Hogwarts with half the Ministry on his heels. Or while he was hiding as a dog and living on rats in a cave because I couldn't send him any food or visit him. Or maybe during tea time when he got locked up in here?"

Remus' voice was calm but Harry could hear the hidden anger in his tone. From the small shifting of the others he knew they hadn't missed the tone either, but Hermione seem oblivious.

"He could have asked you. You are usually together anyway."

"For such a bright witch you truly are stupid beyond belief," Remus snapped at her, his patience wearing thin. "Do you honestly think for even one moment it would have occurred to him that his best friend's last wishes wouldn't have been followed? He never asked me because he thought their Will had been honoured. Somehow he still held the belief that something would go right in this world."

"What do you mean?" Hermione swallowed, unable to miss his anger this time around.

"Their last wishes were ignored?" Fred asked scandalised.

"Yeah. After my grandparents were murdered, Mum and Dad had it written down at Gringotts where they wished to be buried in the event of their own deaths. But their wishes were ignored and they were buried in Godric's Hollow instead."

"Where were they supposed to be buried?" George asked.

"Potter Manor. In the family burial vault with my grandparents or tomb like most would call it. Sirius visited it very briefly after escaping on Buckbeak. He never knew they weren't actually there because their names were automatically added to the family register when they died."

"He must have been devastated to learn the truth," Fred whispered, his voice full of compassion for the man he had grown to care about a lot. George placed a hand on his shoulder in comfort.

"That's an understatement," Remus murmured and Harry nodded slightly.

"Can't you relocate them to where they wanted to be?" George asked.

"We relocated their coffins to their rightful resting place," Harry nodded.

"You disturbed their graves!" Hermione shrieked hysterically.

"No, we released them from an eternal prison they would never have chosen. They might have lived in Godric's Hollow but they never wanted to be buried there," Remus told her harshly.

"You can't just disturb a grave! They were buried there!"

"And now they are buried in the tomb at Potter Manor, where they wished to be and where Sirius and Harry will one day be buried, too," Remus simply said.

"Sirius? I can understand Harry...but why Sirius too?" Ron asked confused.

"Because it was the mutual wish of James' parents, James and Sirius themselves."

"But he isn't a Potter," Ginny protested.

"He is in all the ways that matter. His name is written in their family register, James adopted him as his brother and he had always been their unofficial second son whose wish it was that he'd be buried with his true family one day," Remus shrugged.

"You wouldn't want to be buried there?" Ron asked.

"I wouldn't qualify as I'm not a Potter. I'll probably be buried beside my parents in Yorkshire."

"I still think it is wrong to disturb a grave. Especially because you only disagreed with their resting place," Hermione argued.

"Let it rest Hermione. It was my decision as their son. I have a right to decide where I wish my parents to be buried. And I wanted their wishes to be honoured so I asked Sirius and Remus to move their coffins."

"But..."

"Leave it," Fred snapped at her. "Going back to our original subject. So you went to Godric's Hollow and Potter Manor. Did you stay there?"

"No, we spend the night there but left the next morning. It was too painful for both of them to remain there right then so we left for France, where we visited Disney and Paris where we climbed the Eiffel Tower," Harry let Fred change the subject without objection once more.

"Spent the night there before we went to Germany where we visited another amusement park and Trittenheim, which is famous for its vineyards. Mum's parents went there for vacation repeatedly and Remus had been there once or twice with his parents, too, so they wanted to show me."

Harry thought for a moment. "The day after that Sirius took us to Italy where we spent two days sightseeing. Took us to Venice where Remus bought us bird food, so we'd be able to feed the millions of pigeons residing there. We also took a Gondola tour through the canals, which was a lot of fun. Especially when Sirius talked the guy transporting us into letting me take the paddle for a while

"You capsized us!" Remus snorted.

"It wasn't like I had ever paddled before," Harry defended himself with a laugh as Remus mock glared at him. "Besides, Sirius thought it was funny."

"Of course he did, because he did the same thing to your grandparents when he was fifteen!" Remus exclaimed, making all Weasleys snicker.

"So Harry continued a tradition?" Ginny asked, still smiling broadly.

"Only partly. Sirius didn't know how to swim so he almost drowned when the Gondola capsized. It was James who immediately realised what was wrong and managed to locate him in the dark water, diving in to pull him up."

"Sirius couldn't swim when he was fifteen?" A small superior smile crossed Hermione's lips.

"Can you imagine the Blacks going to the beach or a swimming pool? It would have been far beneath them and even if they had Sirius would never have been allowed to join."

"So he can't swim?" Hermione repeated smugly.

"Oh he can, or he would never have gotten out of Azkaban. Dad spent the rest of the week of their vacation at Rimini teaching him at any opportunity till he was as a fish in the water," Harry answered her calmly.

"Most Pure-Bloods cannot swim," Remus added to the Weasleys' hummed agreements, making her blink surprised.

"Gred and I learned from Lee, though," George corrected him with a smile. "But where did you go from Venice?"

"Rimini," Harry continued before Hermione could start up again. "We spend some time at the beach, walked over the Boulevard and ate pizza. Sirius and I shared one while Remus had one for himself."

"You make it sound like I eat huge amounts," Remus protested.

"You did," Harry shot back with a laugh.

"You forget to mention that you ate a quarter of mine and more than the half of your shared one," Remus shot at him good naturedly, making Harry grin, unashamed of his appetite.

"Anyway, after Italy Remus took us to Belgium to show us a big Muggle Second World War monument in Bastogne. His grandfather fought in the war there. It was very impressive and he actually told us more than the little local museum did. From there we crossed the border to the Netherlands where we visited another amusement park and went to the movies in the evening. I fell asleep half way through the movie though," Harry admitted regretfully.

"What movie did you go see?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Jumanji. It was premièring the day after Christmas."

"But you fell asleep?" Ginny asked.

"Yeah, Sirius had to carry me to bed because I slept like the dead."

"That's amazing; normally you wake up as soon as someone breathes too loudly. Let alone if someone touches you," Ron said in awe.

Harry shrugged. "I was with Sirius and Remus. There is no safer place to be."

"Weren't you guys mad that he fell asleep? The movies aren't cheap." Hermione turned to Remus.

"Why would we be? Besides, I fell asleep on our second attempt. Sirius didn't have half as much fun trying to get me to bed as he had with Harry, since he couldn't use magic to just levitate me."

"I had fun watching him struggle," Harry countered with a laugh that made Remus laugh, too.

"So you guys visited half of Europe in one week?" Fred asked.

"Pretty much... Visited Norway, Switzerland and Austria. Oh, and we went to see the musical Canterville Ghost at London Fringe before we ended up in Wales where we ice-skated."

"You know how to ice-skate?" Hermione asked before sceptically continuing; "Let me guess, Sirius taught you?"

"No, Remus did, actually. Broke my arm and Sirius broke a leg when Remus crashed into him. It was a lot of fun."

"Breaking limbs is fun?" Ginny asked perplexed.

"The ice-skating part was. And Sirius fixed our broken bones in seconds. Though I actually found something Sirius isn't good at there."

"Which is?" Hermione asked.

"Football. He's terrible at it."

"Surely there are a lot of things he's not good at," Hermione said snobbily.

"Not that I've discovered. Great dancer and Ice-skater, good story teller, fantastic dueller, brilliant prankster and a straight O student," Harry summed up.

"He must have been to be able to play as many advanced pranks as he did with the Marauders," Fred agreed.

"Anyone playing pranks can hardly be a good student. Your grades dropped the more you invested your time in those pranks of yours, too," Hermione said to the twins with a superior note in her voice.

"Actually, James and Sirius were the cleverest students of our time. They aced every OWL and NEWT they sat for without going all nuts over study schedules," Remus contradicted Hermione. "And they were both definitely pranksters."

"How many OWLs and NEWTs did they sit for?" Fred asked curiously, ignoring Hermione's disbelieving sniff.

"James ten for both and Sirius got fourteen OWLs and twelve NEWTs."

"They aced them all?!" Ron exclaimed in awe.

"Every subject, with the highest marks possible," Remus said with a nod.

"That's impossible. They were pranksters. They wouldn't have had the time to study to get such high marks," Hermione said irritated.

"Oh they made it possible all right. They used what they learned in class to develop new pranks as a way to practise their skills. I wasn't half as brilliant as those two were, but through their study methods I managed to get nine OWLs and NEWTs, too."

"They studied through pranking?" Harry asked.

"Yes, they practised every spell learned that way when they weren't ahead of the actual class. And besides their classes they both had extra-curricular subjects they followed, too."

"Such as?" George asked amazed.

"James was Quidditch captain and Sirius took three extra subjects besides the normal available classes. And they both did research for our pranks, inventions and the Animagus transformation."

"There are no extra subjects outside the normal twelve classes. How could Sirius sit for fourteen subjects when there are only twelve," Hermione asked unhappily.

"You've read "Hogwarts a History" a million times. You of all people should know there are extra-curricular subjects available. Sirius took Ghoul Studies, Ancient Studies and Art and if able to he sometimes sat in on Muggle Art, too. Only subject he refused to take was Divination, because he thought it was worthless," Harry answered her irritated, to the surprise of Ron.

"How do you know all that?"

"Because we communicate, Ron. He simply told me," Harry deadpanned.

"Okay, but why on earth would he want to take so many subjects?" Ron asked, still shocked.

"He and Dad wanted to learn as much as possible while at school and test their own limits and capabilities," Harry said with a shrug.

"And they were easily bored," Remus added to the amusement of most.

"Did they ever find their limit?" George asked curiously.

"In a way. James was forced to take a step back when he became Head Boy in order to do his duties properly, and Sirius was researching several other uses for potions that kept him busy," Remus answered.

"Did they have a Time-Turner? I can't imagine Professor McGonagall would allow them the use of one with their misbehaving record," Hermione said.

"No, Sirius made arrangements with every Professor to periodically miss classes if they overlapped and take our notes to study them. If he had any lasting questions after that, which I have to admit rarely happened, he either asked us or arranged to meet with the Professor teaching the subject after dinner," Remus said with a smile.

"How did he not get overworked? I took twelve subjects and even with a Time-Turner it drove me mental," Hermione demanded, sounding angry at the thought that someone was better than her, no matter how much older the person was.

"Because I didn't act like an idiot," Sirius' voice answered her as he limped into the room with a rucksack in his hands, clearly having heard the last bit.

"I'm not an idiot!" Hermione bit back angrily.

"Has it ever occurred to you to double your hours to catch up on sleep or do your homework between classes while you knew you were in them at the same time? It was foolish to only use it to follow the actual classes but not take precautions against the workload you were sure to be getting. You could have benefited so much from the use of that thing and yet you didn't. I might have called you the smartest witch of your age, but you aren't very clever," Sirius said as he placed the bag on the table and rested his crutch against it, too, not in the least bit taking notice of her tone of voice.

"And you are?" Hermione sounded upset and angry at his words, but Harry couldn't help but think that his godfather had a point in what he said.

"I have my moments," Sirius answered cryptically, Summoning some items from various places of the room and packed them into his bag.

"Is that thing bottomless?" Harry changed the subject to try and stop Hermione from verbally attacking Sirius, knowing his godfather would only have patience for her for so long, especially since he was still so sore. He looked at the man as he packed more items into the bag than should be possible, seeing its size.

"I put an Extension Charm on it. It makes the bag much bigger on the inside while it remains the same proportions on the outside, and a Feather Light Charm so it doesn't become heavy. It is a neat trick that allows you to carry around a lot of stuff without breaking your back," Sirius explained.

"The Undetectable Extension Charm is very advanced magic. How do you know it?" Hermione asked, her tone upset about the dressing-down Sirius had given her.

"It's not that advanced. I've used it since third year on my school bag, so I could carry all my books around without it tearing at the seam or becoming incredibly heavy, too," Sirius said with a shrug.

"That..." Hermione broke off speechless, looking shocked at his words, and Harry had to bite his lip to keep from laughing as he remembered how her bag had torn repeatedly in third year due to the many books she had carried in it. Another score for Sirius, he thought smugly.

"He taught us the spell too, so we could hide prank stuff in our bags without anyone noticing. The funny thing about that charm is that, unless you tell people or stuff your bag fuller than it should be possible while they are looking, they won't know about it. Even if they start poking around in your bag. It's why Filch could hardly ever catch us," Remus said. "And the Feather Light Charm made our trunks much easier and lighter to carry, been using that one since first year."

"So it's a bit like the bag Mary Poppins owns?" Harry asked, remembering the movie he'd seen at Mrs. Figg house once and being reminded of it now.

"Who's Mary Poppins?" the Twins and Ron asked, making Harry realise they probably had no idea what he meant, but to his surprise Sirius nodded.

"Yes, exactly like that. And Mary Poppins was a sort of magical nanny featuring in a series of Muggle children's books that were quite popular a long time ago," Sirius answered.

Hermione looked at Sirius surprised. "How do you know that?"

"You aren't the only one who enjoys books, Hermione, homework didn't really take up much of my time so I often borrowed Remus' books to keep me occupied," Sirius said to her with a sigh before looking up. "Speaking of books." He waved his wand again and books came to fly into his bag rapidly.

"Why are you packing the books?" Hermione asked alarmed at seeing the entire library being emptied.

"Because I wish to bring them home with me."

"You can't take the books!" Hermione shrieked.

"Actually, they are my books. I think you will find that I can and will. And don't even think about trying to take them out of my bag, the consequences will be yours if you even try." Sirius said with a glare before turning to Harry and ignoring her panicked gasping. "Do you have anything here that you wish to take?"

"Not really, I haven't seen anything in this house I would like to keep. Save...do you think we'll be able to remove that photograph of the four of you from your bedroom wall? I'd like to take that one," Harry answered.

"Sure, we'll just ask our little friend to help us out with that," Sirius said with a smile.

"You can't remove something that's been put into place with a Permanent Sticking Charm," Hermione said.

"And you would of course know all the secrets of the magical world," It was Fred who said that surprisingly, clearly tired of her arrogant tone of voice.

"I researched it. There is no way," Hermione said, looking hurt Fred spoke to her the way that he did.

"Any yet Sirius didn't give up on finding ways to remove the painting of his mum despite that charm so there must have been a way or he wouldn't have been so stubborn," George answered.

"Oh, I don't know about that. I think he would have been willing enough to burn down the house if it meant taking down that painting," Remus muttered to the chuckles of most.

"You certainly were," Fred teased him, making Remus splutter for a moment before he shrugged, admitting the truth.

"And you forget that Dobby removed that same stupid painting from the wall less than two hours ago," Harry added with a smile to Remus, happy to see he was completely all right again.

"Bless that amazing Elf," Sirius said with a happy sigh that made everyone but Hermione laugh.

Hermione sniffed at being contradicted once more. "Speaking of Elves, what will happen with Kreacher when you guys leave here?"

"He will stay here. We will never see eye to eye and I will never trust him so he will remain here where he's always been," Sirius said calmly, not the least bit upset at the Elf staying.

"Can't you just order him to die?" Ron asked wishfully.

"What am I? A barbarian?" Sirius shot back. "Just because I don't like him doesn't mean I'd kill him."

"You could always turn him into a cockroach and step on him. We could pass it off as an accident," Harry said cheekily.

Sirius and Remus both snorted. "I think that only works on evil bugs who annoy the wrong people," Remus said softly, making everyone chuckle as they remembered how Voldemort had ended up.

"Dobby!" Sirius said after shaking his head at the two.

"Sirius sir called?" The little elf replied immediately as he popped in.

"Could you please try to remove the photograph stuck to the wall in my bedroom if possible and bring it here?" Sirius asked.

Dobby nodded, snapped his fingers and immediately handed Sirius the photograph that had appeared in his hand. "Anything else Dobby can do?"

"Thanks, some tea would actually be nice. Do you have anything you would like to take from here?"

"Dobby is only wanting his three masters and his scarf sir," Dobby answered while petting his scarf proudly.

"That is a pretty scarf, Dobby. Have you made it yourself?" Hermione asked kindly, turning her attention to the Elf.

"Oh no Miss. Master Sirius made it for me yesterday. Just for Dobby!" The elf beamed as he patted his scarf once more.

Harry turned to Sirius. "I thought you were planning to give it to him on New Year?"

Sirius shrugged. "I was. But he walked in a short while after you went to bed and he looked so cold from checking all those houses for nothing that I simply already gave it to him as an apology."

"Dobby's loving it sir! Though Dobby needs no apology. And Dobby is making socks for Masters in return."

"You don't have to do that," Hermione said with a glare at Sirius and Harry.

"Oh, socks. I would love a new pair," Sirius said to which Dobby beamed widely before happily popping out again to prepare the requested tea.

"Careful mate, Dobby doesn't make two of a pair kind of socks," Ron warned.

"As it should be. Who would want an exact same pair of socks, that's silly," Sirius said completely serious, making Harry chuckle.

"Only to you," Ron muttered softly but Sirius still shrugged as an indication he had heard him and simply smiled.

Dobby popped back in again with a tray of tea and cookies and passed it around to everyone's delight before leaving again.

"Tiffy taught me all kinds of patterns over the years. House Elves have remarkable taste in clothing. And though I have never met an elf with a fashion sense like Dobby's, it's delightful to see," Sirius said with a smile.

"Who's Tiffy?" Harry asked.

"She was a Hogwarts house-elf I befriended early on in my first year. The things your grandmother didn't teach me about knitting and sewing, she did, along with many other things. She was amazing."

The immense sadness in his godfather's tone of voice said enough about what had become of the elf.

"You know how to knit and sew?" Hermione asked in disbelief, clearly not picking up on the change of mood even as Remus reached out to squeeze Sirius' shoulder to comfort him.

"That's girls work!" Ron exclaimed at the same time.

"How useful is it for a single male if only girls know how to knit and sew? Besides, Dobby just said Sirius made that scarf for him," Harry didn't want to think of how he had believed the same thing and tried to distract both men from the sadness that had fallen over Sirius. "And he is going to teach me how to knit and sew, too."

"Mate, only girls knit," Ron said with a shake of his head.

"My Dad and Grandfather knew how to knit too, as do Sirius and Remus."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Remus gave no indication that he only barely knew how to do so.

Sirius turned to Remus, a small smile growing on his lips. "Remember when we enchanted all the Slytherin scarves into fluffy yellow ones they couldn't remove unless they cuddled them?"

Remus laughed. "Oh yes, and the boys were too proud to do so, but the girls couldn't do it for them because you had linked their scarves with their own DNA. Only they could remove their own scarves."

"That's brilliant!" Fred and George exclaimed.

"But why didn't they simply cuddle their scarf in private settings?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Because it would become known they did so and that was below the Slytherins' pride," Remus answered.

"Of course, but why didn't you make the scarves pink?" Ron asked.

"If we had made them pink their humiliation would have won over their pride and taken away all the fun. By taking a neutral colour we ensured the whole school could see them struggling with it because they wouldn't be hiding away in their dorms."

"That's actually quite brilliant," Hermione admitted reluctantly.

"Thanks," Sirius said smugly.

"You really need to tell us all about your pranks," Fred and George said.

"Sometime soon," Sirius promised. "I am curious about your own pranks more, though. Harry told us some about them, but I doubt he knows even half of it. You are still making your own products?"

"Yeah, we've wanted to open our own shop since we were little," Fred said with a nod.

"What's stopping you then? I know money isn't the issue," Sirius said.

"No, thanks to our secret investor that's not a problem at all. It's Mum, she's been stopping us at every turn and she'd be devastated if we didn't finish our last year at Hogwarts."

"She's got a point with your education. Getting your NEWT's is never a bad thing and half a year later is hardly going to matter. If there is anything I can do to help, invest some more money or so, just let me know and I'd be happy to help."

"That would be awesome. But most of all, there is a question that's been bothering us for a while now," Fred said with a glance at George.

"Fire away," Sirius answered.

"Why didn't you guys ever open your own shop? Was it because of the war?"

"Not really. James wanted to but only after Harry was old enough to go to Hogwarts. He didn't really need to work at all, so he decided he wanted to focus on raising Harry first and fight for a better future for him," Remus answered.

"And you two? What did you want to do?" George asked.

"I wanted to teach, funnily enough," Sirius answered.

"You? A teacher?" Hermione asked sceptically.

"It's something you could still do. Dumbledore is going to need a new Defence teacher with Umbridge gone," Remus said before taking Sirius' mug from him and tipping some potion into it.

"Who would want me as a teacher?" Sirius asked as he accepted the mug Remus held out to him back.

"We would!" All Weasleys and Harry exclaimed immediately.

"It would be nice to have you around all year like that. And I bet we could learn a lot from you," Harry said.

"And if we can kick Binns out then Remus could take over History of Magic," Ron continued.

"Or the other way around," Fred and George said.

"I think you are forgetting I am a werewolf, guys. Parents would object to me teaching you all," Remus said with a smile.

"Bollocks. You are a hero, I bet that you could get any job you want and people would love you," Harry said.

"Watch your language." Sirius warned Harry with a wink, making Harry stick out his tongue at him. "Though he is right. You could probably get any job you'd like now."

"You are filthy rich though, why in Merlin's name would you want to work in the first place," Ron asked confused.

"Because I like working," both Marauders answered at the same time before smiling at each other.

"I've sat at home long enough, it's boring," Sirius added.

"Well, if Dumbledore refuses we could always give him your mean glare. And Remus could threaten to take a bite out of him," Harry said, making Remus choke on his tea.

"Please don't give me mental images like that, Harry."

"What? You wouldn't want to take a bite out of his..." Sirius started but Remus interrupted him with a poke in his side.

"Sirius!"

Sirius laughed even Remus pulled him into his side for a moment before poking him in the side again.

"Anyway, when will you guys talk to him?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Hold on pup. You haven't even asked if Remus even would like to teach again," Sirius said with a laugh.

Harry paused for a moment as he considered that. "It's weird."

"What is?" Remus asked.

"I am so used to the two of you being together that I can't imagine you being separated for something like a job."

"It's a good thing for your imagination then that I indeed would love to teach again," Remus said while Sirius tried to suppress a smile.

Harry looked from Remus to Sirius before glaring at his godfather half heartedly. "You already knew he was going to say that!"

"Of course I did."

"We'll drop by Dumbledore's office to discuss it when we drop you off again," Remus promised.

Harry nodded. "Before I assume something again though, what would you both like to teach?"

"Defence," Sirius answered before turning to Remus. "Remember what we used to say?"

"Of course, it was the perfect solution to our mutual dream."

"Which was?" Hermione asked.

"You see, we both wanted to teach Defence so we came up with a plan to simply share the position. Remus teaching the first four years and I the other three."

"Sirius has always been the more advanced of our group so he'd take the more challenging years while I'd take the other less important ones."

"I wouldn't call them less important. If you didn't prepare them properly in those first years I could pull all the stunts I'd like but they'd still fail their OWL's at least."

"That is true," Remus agreed readily enough.

"So you'd share the position, that would be awesome," George exclaimed.

"And it had the added benefit of both having free time to help James with planning and inventing stuff for the planned shop and babysitting Harry."

"Not to mention that Sirius would be able to take over my classes around the full moon so I'd be able to recover at my own pace instead of trying to force myself into action," Remus added.

"It sounds like you had the plan all worked out, why didn't you follow up on it after graduating," Harry asked.

"We did. Dumbledore thought we were too young and inexperienced to shoulder such a responsible position," Remus answered.

"But he did let you risk your lives for the Order despite that belief Harry growled in disbelief at the same time the twins exclaimed; "He hired Snape!"

"We were going to risk our lives at any rate, with our without his consent," Sirius said with a shrug.

"Do you really think he will let you guys teach now?" Harry asked.

"If he refuses we'll raise hell with the whole DA and if needed we'll involve the whole school," Fred and George swore.

"But would you guys even still want to pursue that dream. It has been a long time since you had that dream and times have changed," Ginny said.

Sirius took a sip from his now potion spiked tea, making a disgusted face at the taste before he answered. "Remus did just say he would love to teach again but frankly there is only one thing in this world that matters to me right now."

"And that is?"

"Harry. So it all depends on what he wants. I can imagine that he rather didn't have me around all year like that."

"Are you mad? Of course I want you around all year. When can you start?" Harry exclaimed eagerly, making Sirius look at him for a long moment with unreadable eyes before he smiled.

"I do believe you are repeating yourself," he said softly. Everyone else fell silent as Sirius' tone had changed dramatically all of a sudden.

Harry looked up to him confused for a long moment before he smiled a bit shyly when he realised what Sirius meant. From the corner of his eye he noticed McGonagall silently entering the room but he ignored her presence in order to keep his attention on Sirius, though he noticed his godfather and Remus had both already noticed her presence while the others seemed oblivious as they looked at Sirius and him confused, though none of them spoke up as they seemed to sense something was happening they wouldn't want to disturb.

"One of the first things I said to you during our first true conversation," he answered equally softly, ignoring everyone else's presence.

"Hm, though the wording was slightly different then if I am not mistaken," Sirius agreed with a small nod.

"When can I move in, I asked," Harry said with a small smile.

"Right now," Sirius answered as he nodded discreetly to McGonagall before removing a stack of parchments from the inside of his coat and placing them on the table.

Remus handed Sirius a quill before walking to the desk at the other side of the table to retrieve something. Sirius leaned over the table, signing the parchments in several places before turning to Harry and handing them to him with the same unreadable expression in his eyes. He didn't look away from Harry as he accepted the item Remus passed on to him blindly.

Harry frowned as he glanced at the parchments and felt his heart skip a few beats as he realised just exactly what his godfather just handed to him.

"Are these...?" He trailed off nervously, feeling a lump form in his throat at the knowledge just what was finally happening.

"Yes. If you are ready then sign in the right corner and we both need to place a drop of blood on the seal from our right hand," Sirius answered, his voice not betraying the nervousness and eagerness Harry could read plainly in his eyes now. Harry felt his heart beat wildly in his chest as he placed the parchments back on the table and almost tore the quill out of his godfather's hand to be able to sign, making him chuckle.

"More than ready," Harry replied unnecessarily as he scribbled his name on the indicated place and then accepted the small ceremonial knife Sirius held out to him while he was letting a few drops of blood fall onto a specific spot on the parchments from the cut in his own hand. Hermione gasped as she seemed to realise what they were doing, but someone clasped a hand over her mouth and shushed her in a whisper, making Harry realise they all understood what was happening before their eyes. But he ignored them all in favour of keeping his eyes on Sirius.

"Same spot?" Harry asked, repeating Sirius' action at his nod and pulling the knife over the inside of his hand before holding it above the spot, the action hardly painful in his eager- and nervousness so he didn't even wince.

Sirius limped slightly to the right to stand directly besides him and held out his bleeding hand to Harry, which he didn't hesitate to take with his own, knowing what Sirius was asking of him. Sirius intertwined their hands and moved them above the seal, squeezing Harry's hand so that their blood mixed together before falling onto the same spot their separate drops had fallen.

The moment their combined blood fell onto the seal the entire parchment lightened up for a long moment, making Harry hold his breath in anticipation, before letting it out shakily when their names changed from black to red and the parchment stopped glowing.

"It worked, right?" He asked as confirmation. Sirius and Remus had explained the workings of a blood adoption ritual to him to prepare him for what would happen, but he couldn't help but ask for confirmation anyway.

Sirius cleared his throat before answering. "It did. Now only two adult witnesses of a clear mind and of our choosing have to sign to make it official."

"That's our cue," Remus said as he moved closer while Sirius held up Harry's hand to heal it with a wave of his wand before healing his own, then taking it in his own again and moving them a bit to the side, so that Remus could reach the parchments easily. Harry squeezed his godfather's hand tightly, unwilling to let go of him and immensely happy Sirius seemed to feel the same way from the tight hold on his hand in return.

"Indeed it is," Professor McGonagall spoke for the first time, making everyone except the three of them jump, not having realised her presence. Glancing at her Harry noticed each twin had a hand clasped over Ron and Hermione's mouth, keeping them silent from even exclaiming the Professor's name. Hermione was looking annoyed and disapproving, though Ron seemed much calmer. Harry wondered what it was but decided to let it slide and ignore them for more important things, like greeting his Head of House.

"Hello Professor," Harry whispered softly with a small nod, not trusting himself to speak more loudly.

"Good morning Mr Potter. Thank you Remus." She said with a smile as she accepted the quill from Remus, who had finished signing in the meantime and moved past them to place her own signature on another spot at the parchment. When she finished, the parchment glowed once more, turning their signatures red, too, before they all changed back to black and the light glow faded away.

"And I believe that makes it official," Professor McGonagall said softly while placing the quill onto the table but Harry barely heard her as Sirius had let go of his hand to pull him into a tight hug which Harry answered immediately by holding him just as tightly.

"Now no one can take you away from me again," Sirius whispered in his ear unsteadily before he slowly pulled back but Harry grabbed him tightly, unwilling to release him yet.

"I'll raise all kinds of hell if they even try," he answered emotionally, receiving a chuckle from his godfather in return.

"You and I both, pup," Sirius answered before planting a kiss in his hair and finally releasing him completely. Harry reluctantly let go of him too, to turn to the cheering that finally reached his ears.

He felt a blush creep onto his face at the sight of the cheering twins and broadly grinning Remus. Even McGonagall was smiling like he had never seen her smile before. Hermione and Ron were now smiling, too, but it was Sirius' beaming smile that he loved most of all.

And it was Remus who moved forward first to give them both a hug and Harry couldn't help but feel that was only right for the Marauder to be the first to react. He hugged Remus tightly, accepting the blessing offered, before giving him over to Sirius so the two friends could have a moment together, too.

He shook McGonagall's hand, not comfortable enough to give her a hug out of his own but she didn't seem to share his mind as she pulled him close for a moment in a clear embrace.

"I think it was about time this happened, don't you agree, Harry," She said softly, making Harry look up at her in shock. She had never called him by his given name before. She winked at him before turning to Sirius, surprising everyone when she immediately pulled him into a tight hug that Sirius answered without any hesitation.

"Congratulations Sirius," she said with a smile as she let go of him again.

"Thank you for being here, Professor M," Sirius replied with a smile, making McGonagall laugh. A sound that had all the youngsters look at her in shock.

"On the contrary, it is my delight to be present for this, so I thank you for the invitation. I am honoured that Harry asked me as his witness. But I do think that by now you can call me Minerva. After all Remus does, too," she said pleasantly.

"How could I possibly do that after all the times you berated me or gave me detentions when I was a student, Professor?" Sirius answered cheekily.

"You better get used to it then if you are to become my colleague very soon. Although I suppose Professor M is better than some of the names you Marauders used to give me," she said sternly.

"Colleague?" Several voices asked at once.

"I do believe I heard something about my lions raising a mutiny if the Headmaster doesn't hire you and Remus," she said.

Fred and George turned as red as their hair very quickly upon realising their Head of House had heard a big part of their conversation, a sight Harry had never seen from them before. He hadn't realised those two even knew the concept of embarrassment.

"Are you going to tell on us, Professor?" they asked at the same time.

"Not at all, as a matter of fact I shall accompany you in your mutiny if Professor Dumbledore dares to refuse," she answered them, making both twins gasp.

"You are supporting Sirius and Remus becoming teachers, Professor?" Hermione asked surprised.

"Yes, Miss Granger, I am. I have taught those two for seven years. Not even taking their grades into account, I remember their abilities very well. We have already seen Remus doing a marvellous job as a teacher but I have no doubt about Sirius' ability either. I have seen his tutoring skills plenty of times."

"His tutoring skills?" Hermione asked at the same time Sirius pulled a deer caught in a headlight face.

"How do you know about that?" he asked surprised.

"Every time a Gryffindor student threatened to fail a subject and received a warning that they would fail if they didn't work harder they suddenly pulled their grades completely around. I knew someone was helping them so I investigated to discover that you, James and Remus helped them out," McGonagall turned to Hermione.

"You see Miss Granger; it wasn't their behaviour that made them so popular during their school years. It was their gentle and friendly nature and their willingness to help out those struggling that made them popular. They played plenty of pranks, more than I had hoped they'd ever pull, and they could be arrogant at times but they never turned down a student in need. Not even those of other houses. And yes Sirius, I have caught you tutoring all those young Slytherins in secret."

"Not so secret if you knew about it, though how you found out about that is a mystery to me. They couldn't risk their house finding out about receiving extra tutoring from me so we..." Sirius spoke but was interrupted by Ron's disgusted exclamation of "You tutored Slytherins!"

"Not every Slytherin is evil Ron. My cousin Andromeda was one, too, and she was kind, she's Tonk's mother. There were several nice ones once they were removed from their House. The world isn't cut out into black and white, you know? Not all Slytherins are evil and certainly not all Gryffindors are good," Sirius berated him.

"Yeah but still...Slytherins," Ron spluttered disgusted.

Professor McGonagall cleared her throat. "Before Mister Weasley interrupted you so rudely, you asked me a question. I simply asked the students about their rising grades and they told me after promising to keep it a secret and I used my eyes. And besides that, anyone who could manage to keep Remus from blowing up a cauldron or Peter from blowing anything up in general does a fine job in my books."

"You blew up cauldrons?" Harry asked shocked as he turned to Remus, who chuckled.

"I did say I had no flair for Potions, didn't I?"

"Yeah, but to be as bad as Neville to actually blow up your cauldron?" Ron shook his head in disbelief.

"Actually, I don't think Neville's ever truly blown up a cauldron," Harry said with a broad smile at Remus.

"Neville shouldn't be so bad at potions. He is very secure in Herbology so Potions shouldn't floor him so much," Remus said thoughtfully as he ignored Harry's teasing beside give him a wink.

"I think it has more to do with who's teaching him, Rem. You told me Neville fears Snape, how can he ever learn something from him when he's too afraid to breath in the man's presence."

"Well then, maybe you can give him some extra tutoring," McGonagall said happily.

"I think you are getting ahead of yourself, Professor. We haven't actually gotten the job yet," Sirius said with a laugh.

"But if you get it, would you be willing to help young Mr Longbottom out?" She urged on.

"Even if I didn't get it I would still be willing to help. His parents were good friends of me, it would be my honour to try and help the boy if he's willing," Sirius answered with a nod.

"You couldn't tutor me, too, by any chance." Harry asked hopefully.

Sirius laughed. "Already plan to, though you will still have to follow the git's classes."

"Darn." Harry pouted, making everyone laugh, even McGonagall.

"So we do have a deal regardless of what happens? You will try to help Mr. Longbottom with his Potion skills?" McGonagall asked once more.

"We have a deal on the condition that Neville will actually want me to tutor him. You can't force him to learn from me if he doesn't want to."

McGonagall looked at Sirius. "That is only fair. So when can you two start then?"

"You do realise we haven't actually gotten the job yet, right?" Remus asked with a laugh as Sirius packed the last few things before closing his bag and placing it beside Remus' suitcase before sitting down.

"You just did."

Both Sirius and Remus turned to her confused as did all the others.

"What do you mean?" Remus asked.

"That I just hired you both," McGonagall said pleasantly as she sat down at the table beside Sirius.

"Since when can the Deputy hire people?" Hermione looked alarmed at not knowing something.

"Normally I can't. But the board has given me more authorisations after they were shown the memory of what happened at Hogwarts. They were impressed with your action and very disappointed in Dumbledore's inability to control things at his own school. When you showed me the respect you did, they seemed to think it meant I was more of an authority figure than the Headmaster is. I have been given a few more duties and the privilege to hire new teachers."

She sighed. "Actually, beside the adoption I also came here today in the hopes of being able to talk the two of you into helping me out till the end of the year since you were responsible for the loss of a teacher halfway through the year. But this would be even more acceptable as it would solve my problem for good, and I know you are both very capable."

Both looked at her speechless.

"Let me get this straight...you were going to ask us to teach...a week after we barged into Hogwarts, scared all the students and threatened several teachers?" Sirius asked.

"They thought what you guys did was awesome. The way you treated Umbridge and Snape was the talk for the rest of the night and they were all on your side," Ron laughed.

"Mr. Weasley is correct. Your display has convinced most of the student body that you are a good guy. The whole of the Wizarding world was after you and yet you stormed into the heart of our world because you were alerted that your godson was being hurt by a teacher. The students always thought Remus was a great teacher, but your action has gained a lot of respect from them and they will be eager to learn from you."

"So what do you say, boys? I assume you will have some terms and conditions before taking the position as does Hogwarts. I shall start with our side."

McGonagall turned slightly so that she was facing Sirius and Remus completely and they nodded slowly. Harry had to bite his lip as he realised it was only now that it was getting through to them that McGonagall was serious about her offer.

"We only have one set of personal quarters for the position of Defence and though it won't be much of a problem to add a new set, I think I will be right in assuming the two of you would like to stay together?"

Both nodded.

"Then I'll simply add another small bedroom to the current chambers so that you can remain together," she made a note on a piece of parchment before looking up to Sirius.

"I would like you to register your Animagus form though I am aware that I cannot force you to do so and no repercussions will follow if you refuse."

"I planned to register once I got my trial. I will do it when we meet up with Amelia Bones," Sirius agreed.

"That is more than acceptable to me. As Harry is legally your child he is permitted to visit your personal quarters whenever he wishes to do so. Though if he wants to spend the night there I would appreciate it if you would let me know, so I know where he is."

Sirius nodded as he smiled at Harry, who grinned.

"Remus is already aware that we have a requirement to wear robes. This counts for students but also professors. Normally I would demand them to be worn but quite frankly I couldn't care less. You both dress properly in Muggle clothes so if you prefer to wear them you can."

"But professor, it are the rules to wear robes!" Hermione interrupted protesting.

"Hagrid doesn't wear robes and he's a professor," Fred countered.

"Mr. Weasley is right. I will not force my teachers to dress in clothes that will make them uncomfortable. This would not be much of a problem for Remus, but I know how you feel about robes, Sirius, and I won't make you wear them while Hagrid doesn't have to."

Sirius nodded relieved. "If it had been a rule I would have worn them but you are right. I never have been comfortable in robes; they block fluid movements in battle and can easily catch on fire. To compromise I'll wear the outer robe over my clothes to give off a hint of professionalism."

Harry snorted. "I don't think that will help much when they see your mischievous grin."

"I do have to agree with Mr. Potter. But I appreciate the effort and we will see. On a different note, there is one problem I wish to discuss with you."

"Which is?" Remus asked.

"The full moon. I need to be able to count on your discretion. No running around or taking risks."

"We aren't children anymore. Our actions back then were dangerous and reckless. There were many close calls, but because it ended well every time we laughed it off. To be frank we were idiots and I can assure you it will not happen again," Sirius spoke as he shared a glance with Remus who smiled at his words before looking back to McGonagall.

"I've been brewing the Wolfsbane Potion for him since we reunited after Voldemort's resurrection and I will continue to do so. We can afford the ingredients without a problem and as it helps him to keep his mind, we will make sure we lock ourselves into our private quarters on the night of the full moon with a charm in place that won't let the door be opened from the outside between sunset and sunrise."

"We will also be honest with the students this time around. Well, the few that don't already know that is. It will warn them to stay away and Sirius will stay with me not only to keep me company but to be an extra line of defence in the case a student is foolish enough to try and enter," he took a deep breath before continuing.

"We have experimented with how Moony reacts to a human presence while on Wolfsbane, but I cannot be certain if it's just Sirius Moony doesn't react to because he knows him too well or if I will keep my mind with any human accidentally passing by."

"You experimented as a werewolf with Sirius in the room?" Hermione asked alarmed. "You could have killed him. How could you be so stupid?"

"I'm not stupid enough to have stood directly beside him while experimenting with it. I made sure we were in a room that left enough distance for me to change back in case he would lose his mind," Sirius shot back annoyed.

"They wanted to make sure I would be safe while Remus is transforming. It's never been attempted to have humans in the room while a werewolf is on Wolfsbane and though they aren't about to risk it with me they needed to know if I could stay in the same house safely while Sirius locked them both up in a different room," Harry explained equally annoyed. "It was a necessary safety precaution they had to try to make sure I would be safe."

"You truly have thought it all through thoroughly," McGonagall approving said.

"We spoke about it before. Though we hadn't expected to be hired this soon we spoke about what we wanted to do after a time that Voldemort was gone and Harry left for school and discussed the precautions we would have to take," Remus revealed.

"A very wise decision. Those were my terms. Do you have any terms of your own?"

They looked at each other for a long moment, silently communicating with their eyes before Remus turned to McGonagall.

"Would it be allowed that we help each other out in class when the other is not teaching as I assume we will be sharing the classroom and thus never teaching at the same time?"

"Naturally. Especially in the beginning it would be wise to do so since you will start halfway into a year with students whose education has been severely lacking under the constant change every year."

"Wait, but the position is cursed, isn't it?" Harry asked worriedly.

"It was while You-Know-Who was alive, I don't know if it still stands. You could always look into the presumed curse, if anyone can remove it my bet would be on the two of you. It might actually also be a wise move if you sit in on each other's classes occasionally anyway. It will make the students acquainted with you both and become used to your teaching styles. Do you have any other wishes?"

"Only an absurd one," Sirius muttered. Remus grinned in response to his words while the others looked at him curiously.

McGonagall smiled. "You may."

"May what?" Hermione asked confused but Sirius looked at her surprised.

"It is the answer to Sirius' question, Miss Granger. Or should I say Professor Sirius as that is how you will have to call him at Hogwarts."

"I can?" Sirius asked, a wide smile spreading over his lips.

"Yes you can. If Hagrid can be called by only his surname despite being a professor I don't see why I cannot allow you the privilege of being called by your given name. I am actually quite aware of just how much you hate your family name, Sirius. If I recall correctly, James actually demanded it would be changed to Potter since he claimed you were his brother and you lived with him anyway," there was a fond smile on McGonagall's lips as she recalled the memory.

Sirius laughed; "I'd forgotten about that."

"Dad did that?"

"Yeah. He took all my books and clothing and changed the labels into Potter in our sixth year."

"He changed the records somehow, too. All your files read the name Sirius Potter-Black. Took us ages to try change it all back," she paused. "I do hope that your tendencies to prank will be history now?"

Both Sirius and Remus grinned without even looking at each other, making McGonagall sigh. "I was afraid of that. Do try not to target Professor Snape all the time."

"I solemnly swear I will only target him if he's being unfair to our students...or Harry," Sirius added as an afterthought.

"Meaning you will be pranking him all the time," McGonagall said with another sigh, though she didn't sound annoyed at all as a hint of a smile played around her lips.

"Very well then. Professors are required to arrive at Hogwarts the day before the students. So I will expect the three of you on the sixth of January so you can get settled in and Sirius can meet the staff, though I am sure you remember most of them."

Sirius suddenly chuckled nervously. "Do...they agree with you hiring me? I know they'll be happy to see Remus again, but I'm not like Remus."

"I have discussed it with them and save one they are all more than happy to welcome you among the staff." McGonagall stood up and placed a hand on both of their shoulders for a moment to stop them from getting up.

"Once again congratulations, and I look forward to seeing you both arrive. And Remus, make sure he rests that ankle of his. You know how stubborn he can be."

Remus smiled with a nod. "I try to be even more stubborn."

"How do you know about his ankle, professor?" Ginny asked surprised.

"Probably because there is a crutch resting against my side, Gin," Sirius spoke with amusement, making Ginny turn red as she realised it was true.

"That was a giveaway and I can see the bandages on his right ankle, Miss Weasley."

McGonagall nodded once more.

"Till the sixth of January, Professor M," Sirius and Remus said with a chuckle, making her miss a step before she shook her head fondly.

"Till then. Oh, and can I just say that I love what you boys have done to the hallway?" she smiled to them before leaving the room without another word and they all turned to each other in shocked silence.

Sirius and Remus stared at each other for a long moment before they spoke at the same time.

"Did we just..."

"Did she just..."

"You guys just became our teachers!" Fred and George exclaimed cheerfully.

"We did..." Remus spoke, still an air of disbelief around him.

"Congratulations. You guys sure are on a roll today, aren't you?" Harry said with a wide smile as he hugged Sirius and Remus to congratulate them.

"How?" Remus asked when Harry let go of them again.

"Taking down the Dursleys, destroying the hag's painting. Taken down Dumbledore and gotten a job and it is not even one pm yet."

"You forget the most important thing," Sirius disagreed as he pulled Harry into another hug.

"How could I," Harry grinned as he answered the hug before taking McGonagall's chair next to Sirius.

"You are right though...all that action calls for some nice relaxing time. Any ideas?" Sirius asked.

"We could go see a movie," Remus suggested.

"That is a waste of time, you need to be making class plans and read the book Professor Umbridge assigned us so you know what we've learned so far. There's only a few days left before classes begin again. I can draw up a plan, too..."

"No you won't. You are probably meaning well but if you even dare to show me one piece of parchment with a plan of yours on it I will throw you into detention immediately," Sirius interrupted her. "We are not your year mates that you can order around, Hermione, nor are we Hagrid who swallows your ordering him around."

"I just want to help, you will need my help if you want to make a good impression," Hermione disagreed stubbornly.

"Do you really think it will make a good impression if we take orders from a fifteen-year-old?" Remus asked as he gazed at her. "It is true that we will be starting halfway through the year and will have a mess to clean up that Umbridge left behind. But we are more than capable of dealing with it. We don't need a hundred lesson plans for that. I still have the plans I used when I was teaching and they will work as a fine guide line the first few lessons till we can set up a more permanent plan."

"Besides, right now we have no idea where all the students are," he paused before correcting himself. "We have no idea where the students outside of the DA are at right now. Lesson plans will do no good if half of the students are either advanced or far behind on what they should know by now."

"What about the DA, will that still continue now that you two will start teaching?" Fred asked.

"I don't see why not if Harry would like to continue giving it," Remus shrugged.

"We could even turn it into an official extra-curricular subject or study group if it comes to it. It all depends on what Harry wants. It is his class," Sirius added.

They all turned to Harry who cleared his throat.

"I do like teaching them stuff. It would be nice to change it into a study group of some sorts in which they can practice what you guys have taught them some more. It would mean I have to spend less time on figuring things out to teach them and can focus more on my school work. Especially since you will be tutoring me aside from my normal classes," Harry admitted.

"Only if you would like to learn more, Harry. I don't deny that I wish you would push yourself to do as good as you can, but I'm not going to force you to take subjects you wouldn't want to take," Sirius reassured him.

"I am curious to the subjects that you can teach me. But most of all you are right in that I need to do my best more at my classes. Now I'm constantly in over my head in homework and the only subject I can truly say I'm good at is Defence. I'm only scraping by on everything else. And it is not because I'm a horrible student but more because I'm not truly trying. My mind was always on other things with Voldemort and all but now I truly wish to focus on my studies and learn what I can from you."

Determinately Harry looked at Sirius who nodded with a proud smile.

"Then we will do our very best to do just that. Which reminds me, I need to write a letter to the Longbottoms to see if Neville will be interested in some extra tutoring from me. Any advice on how not to scare the poor bloke to death?"

"We could invite him and his grandmother to meet up with us somewhere to discuss it?" Harry suggested and Sirius nodded.

"Good plan, thanks," He accepted a piece of parchment that Remus gave him and scribbled a note down before folding it up.

"Maybe you could write a letter to Neville, too, to alert him of what is going to be discussed so that he can think about it before it's thrown at him?" Sirius suggested and Harry nodded as he pulled a piece of parchment to him and wrote a quick explanation of what McGonagall had asked and the question Sirius was going to ask him. Folding the piece of paper he handed it to Sirius so that he could seal both along with the letter containing copies of the adoption papers before he tapped them onto the table.

"You haven't happened to have seen Hedwig or Boo, have you?" he asked Harry who shook his head.

"I left Hedwig at Hogwarts and I haven't seen Boo since you sent him to Professor McGonagall."

"You could borrow Pig," Ron offered.

"Pig?" Sirius asked confused as he turned to him.

"Yeah...the owl you gave me."

"Pig...you named him Pig? And you really dare to judge me on my naming skills?" he asked as he turned to Harry, who grinned.

"His full name is Pigwidgeon," Ginny defended the little owl.

"I see why you call him Pig," Sirius addressed to Ron who grinned sheepishly while Ginny stuck out her tongue.

"Who's Boo though?" she asked.

"Our owl, and thanks for the offer, Ron, but I need to train Boo to...oh...hey there."

As he spoke, a familiar small light brown owl flew into the room and landed on Sirius' shoulder, nipping on his ear in affection as he did.

"That's a tawny owl, isn't it?" Hermione asked interested as she leaned forward to see it more properly.

"Yeah, he's a bit smaller than normal ones his age but he could still grow." Remus answered.

"Three letters this time, wait for both the Longbottom's answers, all right?" Sirius asked as he bound the letters to the outstretched claw.

Boo hooted softly before nipping his finger and taking off again.

"I see why you named him Boo," Fred grinned and Sirius laughed. "It is funny, isn't it?"

"Yeah, now that the official business is done, I believe you guys were talking about a movie?"

"I don't see why not. Would your mum agree, though?" Harry shrugged.

"Right now I really don't care what she wants. We are adults and we wish to take our younger siblings with us to the movies. I'll leave a note for her and send an owl to dad so he can calm her down when she realises we're gone," George answered determinedly.

"All right. A movie and some dinner it will be then," Sirius stood up, picking up his crutch and rucksack as he did but Remus snatched the rucksack from him immediately. After putting his suitcase inside it he tossed it over a shoulder and grinned at his friend before he turned to the rest.

"We'd better get going then before Molly sees and stops us."

Hermione looked for a moment like she was going to say something but seemed to think better of it and turned around.

"You don't want to come?" Ginny asked as she noticed Hermione wasn't following the others.

"No, I don't want to waste my time with watching a movie. OWLs will start soon enough so I need to revise for them and learn what I can ahead of time," Hermione frowned. "You would be wise to follow my example."

"I think we all deserve some relaxation and it will be fun," Ginny tried to reason with her but Hermione only harrumphed.

"Suit yourself then. You can tell Mum about the note when she looks for us then," Ginny turned her back on Hermione as the older girl walked into the other directly and quickly followed Ron to grab her coat.

George and Fred quickly both wrote a note, sending one off with Pig to their father while the other was placed on the kitchen table for their mother, before they joined the others in pulling on their coats and scarves.

Sirius, Remus and Harry all pulled on caps and added small disguises as they went so they wouldn't be recognised and once they were all ready, they quietly left the house to walk into town and enjoy a fun afternoon together without worries.

They knew Molly would give them hell upon their return, but right then they could care less as they just had fun before the start of their new lives.


	5. Bons Piece

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small bonus chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is unbeta-ed as it is a surprise to my beta as a way to say thank you for all your help.

Bonus piece:

Severus Snape sat at his desk drinking a cup of tea when an owl arrived with an Evening Prophet.

Curiously he paid the darn animal before unfolding his paper, wincing as the movement hurt his bandaged left arm. Picking up his cup of tea and taking a sip he glanced at the headline.

HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED DEAD!

REMUS LUPIN, SIRIUS BLACK AND HARRY POTTER DELIVEREDHIS CORPSE TO THE MINISTRY.

FIFTY THREE DEATH EATERS CAPTURED!

"What?" disbelieving Snape spit out his tea and dropped his cup to the ground, letting it scatter on the stones. His hands almost tore into the paper as he read the article below it.

Less than three hours ago the Auror department was thrown in an uproar when three men, quickly identified as werewolf Remus Lupin, newly instated Lord Black and The Boy Who Lived, delivered a package to the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Amelia Bones.

The package contained the corpse of who was identified as He Who Must Not Be Named and sixty-five of his followers, of whom fifty-three carried the Dark Mark. Forty-five of his followers have been confirmed to be dead.

After questioning the three, Madam Bones let it be known that it was Remus Lupin who is responsible for the downfall of the Darkest Lord to have ever lived.

In a short statement she declared that the three famous men came across the Dark Lord and his followers while on vacation, and after a short fight in which the three took out many Death Eaters, Remus Lupin finally killed the Dark Lord with the Killing Curse.

Remus Lupin is registered as a werewolf, which leaves many of us in wonder as we have all been taught werewolves are evil and dangerous. And yet this werewolf took out the man who frightened us all, in the process saving the lives of Harry Potter; the Boy Who Lived, and Lord Black. More about werewolves on page 2.

The statement given by Madam Bones:

"We were able to confirm that Death Eater Lucius Malfoy and the murderous Fenrir Greyback, a noticeable dark werewolf known for his preference to infect children, were among the dead. Lucius Malfoy had been on the run since the news of You Know Who´s return came out last week. Remus Lupin will receive..."

Snape stared at the words without truly seeing them anymore.

That disgusting werewolf Lupin had taken out the Dark Lord?

Those three despicable bastards had taken out the darkest Lord to have ever lived. A Lord who was stronger than anyone in existence?

A monster that not even the great and almighty Albus Dumbledore was capable of defeating had been taken down by that...that...

Saved the lives of Harry Potter and Lord Black...

As if...knowing Black like he did, this was probably a set-up aimed to ensure a better life for those vile beasts. It would be just like the bastard to pull a stunt like that, even if it meant the arrogant git wouldn't get the credit for what he'd done.

It had to be a stunt. After all Snape had seen the raw power Black had displayed when he broke into Hogwarts just a few days ago. Had felt it when his attention had been directed to him.

And how mortified had he been when he had felt coldness spread over his spine when those cold grey eyes had focused on him.

He had no love for the stupid toad nor did he truly care when Black threatened the Headmaster but he didn't like being on the receiving end of that temper.

And the worst part had been when he had been grateful to him for keeping the brat safe. As if he had done it for his sake. It had never been for that brat, never!

Nothing, absolutely nothing had caused him more disgrace than having that bastard be grateful to him. Of course that was mere moments before the git had threatened him...and how could he ever forget that particular display of raw anger, even without the bloody reminder. As if he could ever forget what that bastard had done to Regulus Black, his own brother, simply because he'd threatened Potter and the beast.

It had to be a stunt pulled by Black, if not...

Snape didn't even want to think about what it might mean if it truly had been the werewolf who had taken down the monster he had served for so long.

He stared at his bandaged arm, knowing the burn wound that lied underneath. Had that been the Dark Lord's last breath? His dying anger lashing out to the servants who escaped that trio's wrath?

It couldn't be true...it just couldn't be.

Not even fourteen years ago when the brat had vanquished the Dark Lord to a shade of what he'd been had the Dark Mark burned like it had that afternoon. It had felt like a scream of anger and hatred, tearing through the Mark and seemingly burning the unwanted symbol even deeper into his arm.

Just impossible...

He had no idea how long he sat there with that piece of crumpled newspaper in his hands, not answering the summoning Dumbledore gave him for an emergency Order meeting. Nor reacting to the regular Daily Prophet when it was delivered the following morning and the owl took one of the Knuts lying on his desk before leaving.

"Severus? You didn't show up at the Hogwarts meeting this morning or this afternoon," it was McGonagall's voice that pulled him slightly out of his deep thoughts though he still didn't acknowledge her.

"Very well, you should know that I have been tasked with hiring a new Defence teacher and I have asked Sirius Black and Remus Lupin to share the position. They have agreed."

"Hm..." Snape nodded absentminded making McGonagall sigh and leave again without another word.

It was a few minutes before her words truly got through to his clouded mind.

Wait...asked Sirius Black and Remus Lupin to share the position...of...Defence.

What?

Share...position...Defence...

"What!" his scream of shock and anger tore through the castle, making several teachers wince in the staffroom a floor up.

"I think Minerva just told him," Flitwick said with a quickly spreading smile as several others smiled too, knowing new exciting times were about to start at Hogwarts.

Taking another sip of tea they all pleasantly continued their dinner and excited chatter, ignoring the slamming of doors as their colleague tore through the castle while he screamed their Headmaster's name.


End file.
